Political Quotes

“the gentleman from Oregon touches on perhaps the most fundamental issue that we can discuss; and that is, in the midst of all of the media hoopla about how great the economy is doing, the reality is that there are tens and tens of millions of people who are hurting very badly and, in many ways, are in worse shape today than they were 20 or 25 years ago. The gentleman is touching on one area, and that is the area of health care. Now, I want to know one simple thing. It would seem to me that, if the economy is booming, what that would translate to, among other things, is an improved health care system for all of the people. It makes sense to me. The economy is booming. That means that more and more people have health insurance, better quality of health care, better able to go to the physician of their choice, the specialist of their choice, more access to prescription drugs. That is what a booming economy would seem to me. But the reality, as the gentleman has just indicated, is very much not that. The reality is that we have some 43 million Americans who have zero health insurance. The reality is that we have tens of millions of Americans who have very large deductibles and co-payments. That means that, if they get sick, they hesitate to go to the doctor, because they do not have the cash to pay for the visit.”