Jim McDermott

The Republicans were opposed to a public option. So the CO-OPs were an alternative that was put into this bill.

Mr. Chairman, I realize you have given me a little extra time here. I would like to submit the CMS rules on the 96-hour rule for the record.

Why is it a problem? Everybody says it is a big problem; we have to got to get rid of this 96-hour rule.

If Medicaid would expand, it would be over a $300,000 impact of Holton Hospital, where some years that is the difference of us being a profitable hospital or not.

80 percent of the hospitals that have announced recent closures are in States that chose not to expand Medicaid.

Their decision has left 4.3 million people without insurance, forcing hospitals, many of them which serve rural areas, to pick up the cost.

Time and time again, I hear from Republican colleagues about rural hospitals closing down, threatening access to health care for many communities.

I believe there is room for us to work together to address how we deliver health care to people who live in rural areas.

I hope this Committee will join me in looking at ways to strengthen, not cut the program, to ensure that it remains strong in the future.

Medicare is really about beneficiaries. It isn't about providers, it isn't about drug companies, it isn't about hospitals, it isn't about anybody else.

I hope it will be a constructive conversation about how we can improve and strengthen Medicare.

Can I have just a second to ask unanimous consent to drop in a letter from the American Hospital Association dated July 22nd?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

They have never put anything on the table.

You have to own the whole thing. That is really what we are trying to stop. And have successfully stopped and saved a half billion dollars.

It will make the industry happy, but it will bring needless waste back into the healthcare system and ultimately harm the hardworking families of this country who are paying for this system.

If this hearing were about competition, we would look carefully about how to drive down prices.

Access under the Affordable Care Act is rising clearly where people have access to health care supposedly.

Because we all care about wasting money. We don't want money to be wasted on these subsidies.

My assumption is that their rules and regulations were put in for you to give data so that they could pick up fraud, if people were trying to cheat. Is that correct?

But you are telling... it is okay for me to expect everybody else to pay for stuff and I get it for free.

So they are free-riders.

We have probably 20 million people presently without health insurance coverage. Is that about what you think it is?

I feel like it is springtime. And farmers plow their field; they have to plow the dirt before they go to work.

I would like to raise a question about student debt. Can you give me any reason why students can't renegotiate their loans?