Joe Cunningham: “I have not been on the floor that long tonight, but I have sat and listened to a lot of nasty things. And according to…”

“I have not been on the floor that long tonight, but I have sat and listened to a lot of nasty things. And according to my colleagues, all Republicans want to throw out senior citizens; we do not care about our grandmas, our grandpas, our wives, our children. But that is not true. I have a mom. I lost my dad. But I want to take care of them with Medicare, and I want to take care and make sure their health care needs are filled. I believe in a private-public partnership. Let me give a good example. A couple years ago I had pneumonia. I went to the doctor, and then I went to get my antibiotic. It was called Augmentin. I looked at the prescription, and it was $120. I remember thinking how is someone with a low income with children going to afford $120, especially if a couple of their children had pneumonia. The total cost of that Augmentin was $17 because my wife, being a schoolteacher, had insurance. The more we drive up the cost of insurance, and I know it is the latest thing to demonize insurance companies, but if we have a private partnership with insurance companies and the public, they lower the cost of those prescription drugs so people can afford them. So instead of $120, it was $17. That is the goal, to make sure that people are taken care of.”