Paul Tonko: “There is all the call for civil discussion, exchange of information to do things analytically and substantively when it…”

“There is all the call for civil discussion, exchange of information to do things analytically and substantively when it comes to a huge industry that represents $1 of $6 in this country, and we need to do it in a way that brings together the facts, not to deal with fiction. Emotion, obviously, is a part of this discussion. We are emotionalized by this, but let's have the sort of dialogue that builds soundness into the reforms that we desperately need as a Nation. When we get back onto this message of freedom, the freedom to shop, many of us understand there is a capitalist model out there. People understand that it is good to have business be successful. And where we can control cost and contain cost, and allow for growth of that business so more jobs are part of that picture, all the better. So we have the opportunity with these exchanges, developed by this reform legislation, to allow for the freedom to shop, to find a better bargain for health care, and as previous speakers have said, add more people into the mix, more providers into the mix that want to fight for the right to serve you.”