Political Quotes

“I am not necessarily opposed to his amendment, but I do think it is important to talk about the issues that really matter when it comes to affordable healthcare. Again, when we talked about giving States the authority to innovate and to protect their citizens, we are for that. I come from a State that pioneered the Oregon Health Plan. I was there. I created a select committee when I was the Republican majority leader of the Oregon House, when we finally got the waiver from the Federal Government after a couple of years to actually implement the Oregon Health Plan. It was very creative about how to hold down healthcare costs and expand coverage and do all those things. We have worked on a lot of different issues over the years. What we did with the President today, I think, is really important and, that is, looked at this issue of surprise billing: If you follow all the rules, you go to a hospital that is in your network, and let's say some provider gets sick in the night and they substitute somebody else who doesn't turn out to be in your network and then, weeks later, you get an astronomical bill through no fault of your own. There was a parent down there whose daughter had had, I think, some sort of surgery, and the physician, on the way out, said: Oh, by the way, I want you to do just a little urine test here. We are going to run an analysis. So she did, left, and, a period of time later, got a bill for $17,000.…”