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Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
The Republican Congresses did send important parts of this plan, the
House, to the other body. We sent lawsuit abuse reform seven times. We
sent associated health plans at least a half dozen times. They didn't
get to the floor. We continue to send the elements of this plan that
save every taxpayer money and also save every insured American money.
This is the only plan that reduces the cost of insurance for every
group of insured Americans. One of the goals that the President set for
health care reform was to reduce the cost of premiums. This is the only
plan that does that. It does it for individuals. It does it for small
businesses. It does it for large groups.
This is a plan where we could provide access to coverage for everyone
regardless of preexisting conditions. Now, we don't spend $1.3 trillion
to do that. We spend about $23 billion to make the risk pools work
better and ensure access for everybody. We're for access for everybody
to coverage; we're just not for spending $1 trillion to create that
access. This plan lowers premiums. It prohibits insurance
companies from canceling policies. It prohibits insurance
companies from capping the lifetime expenditures that those policies
might incur. One of the reasons that there were more people
uninsured at the end of the 10 years under this plan is, when our
friends on the other side insisted on the children's health insurance
plan, they put everybody that goes on that plan in the first 5 years
back into no insurance in the last 5 years. Look at the numbers. That's
where those numbers go up. You could pretend that our plan puts the
numbers up. We're not the one that said we're going to insure all children
for 5 years and in the second 5 years they're back to where they
are today. Check the numbers. Look at what this does for premiums. Look
at what this does for families. Look at what this does for individuals.
This is a plan that truly does keep what works and fixes what's
broken. The President repeatedly has said, Everyone, if you like what
you have, you should be able to keep it. This is the only plan that
would allow that pledge to be made and be kept.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this plan. Let's
take these first steps that work without bankrupting the American
people. I urge support of this plan.