Charles Rangel

American businesses should be lining up to help comprehensive health reform become a reality so that we can ensure that everyone has affordable care that meets their needs.

Health reform efforts need to build on, and strengthen, employer-sponsored insurance, which provides coverage for approximately 160 million people in working families.

House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) announced today that the Committee will hold another hearing in the series on health reform.

The employer-based system... has served us pretty well, it is really hanging on, holding on, by its fingertips.

I would rather work with you so that we can get bipartisan support of this darn thing.

they are doing this to keep me from going to the doctor. They are doing this because it keeps their costs down

Now, if we do the same sequencing in the United States that they did in Massachusetts and have the same results that they had in Massachusetts, we are going to have a much worse problem, because Massachusetts started out with a very low…

Let me thank you and the panel and tell you where we are.

48 million people that don't have health insurance, if we give them, overall the country is going to save money.

It could be a good policy or a bad policy. I want you to take notes.

The best way to ensure that coverage is universally made available to those who do not have good ESI is to construct a national insurance exchange that includes a public health insurance option.

We have got to have a health bill.

Soon and very soon the bells will ring, and we will have a 15-minute vote, two 5-minute votes.

Thank you very much.

We have to solve this problem this year.

This is not going to get public support; it is going to get tremendous public opposition.

The only reason we talk about the public insurance program is we think it is a good cost-containment mechanism.

It would help if the members shorten their questions, so that within the 5-minute period we might get the benefit of our distinguished guests.

we can combine their jurisdiction over Medicaid with our jurisdiction over Medicare; and at the end of the day make certain that no one falls between the cracks

If you like what you have got, we are not thinking about doing anything except trying to lower the cost across the board.

In sum, we believe that the crisis in American health care is too complex for any one person, for any one organization or one sector of our society to figure out the best solution.

Tell our friends in New Jersey help is on the way.

We have, I guess, 45 million people, half of which work every day.

We are going to say that the employer has a responsibility, and the employee has a responsibility, and the government has a responsibility.

A healthier American workforce is a more competitive workforce in the global marketplace.