Political Quotes

“I come to the floor this evening to continue my remarks from earlier today in opposition to the nomination of Congressman Price to be Secretary of Health and Human Services and to continue talking about the Medicaid program. My colleague from New Jersey was talking about the affordability of health care in general and some of the critique about where we are going with health care in the future. That is really what I think the next few years here in the Senate are going to be about--the future of health care. Unfortunately, the nominee before us is more about the past of health care, focusing on issues like fee-for-service instead of the patient- centric health care that we need. Earlier today, I was talking about the innovation that is happening in Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act and, specifically, what is happening in Midwestern States, Eastern States, Southern States, and Western States--how the expansion of Medicaid is not just giving more people access to health care but how innovative programs that are reaching that population are allowing people, instead of going into nursing home care and costing States more and having more expense, going into community-based care and home-based care that will help us keep costs down and give patients what they want: the ability to stay at home and have care.…”