Political Quotes

“in the last Congress, President Clinton set out to reform health care by taking decision making power away from the individual and placing it in the hands of a centralized bureaucracy. As a member of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, I am proud to be a part of the Congress that today is taking important steps towards reforming our health care system by taking power away from the bureaucrats and giving it back to individuals. For example, the creation of Medical Savings Accounts [MSA's] will give individuals more rights and more responsibilities regarding their health care. I have been a strong supporter of MSA's, and I am pleased that Senate Democrats have agreed with the House and included MSA's in the conference report. It should be noted that this is not a perfect bill by any means. I find it unfortunate that malpractice reform was dropped, I believe the MSA experiment is too restrictive, and I am concerned about the impact that guaranteed issue will have on the market as a whole. While there are unquestionably further improvements that can be made in our system and even in this bill, we are taking a major step forward. When coupled with preexisting condition and portability reform, I believe MSA's and other provisions in this compromise represent a dramatic, but carefully measured reform of our health care delivery system. It is one that should be approved by Congress, applauded by pundits, welcomed by the American public, and signed by the President.”