Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, the expectation that somehow the elements of the Affordable Care Act would not be implemented is just simply false. People can keep health insurance, but there are always going to be the new standards to make sure that people no longer have insurance in name only. That is what we heard about repeatedly in the efforts to try to reform the health care system--that people had great health care plans until they got sick. We have minimum standards going forward, and all plans will be required to meet those standards. That was in the law, and that is reasonable. We are in the midst of the greatest, most significant reform of health care in a generation, and it is already having significant effects. Medical inflation, medical cost inflation is at a 40-year low over the course of the last 3 years. We have significant expansion of coverage already. Hundreds of thousands of people in lower incomes have been able to have access to health care for the first time. Small businesses that have been burdened for years by health care costs now get access to tax credits, and it gets better for them going forward. It is, I think, ironic for people to talk about somebody losing access to a doctor who is no longer in a network. That happens every year. It happened previously. It will happen in the future unless you are going to somehow sentence doctors to participate in plans. You can't force them.…”