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Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation before us today not because I believe it is a perfect answer to a problem that needs to be fixed but in order to make sure that the process moves forward. I want to commend my colleagues who have worked tirelessly over the ensuing weeks to try to address the concerns--legitimate concerns, I view--of some of the shortcomings of the legislation before us, Mr. Nunes and my good friend, Mr. Carney from Delaware.
This is, I think, emblematic of how we should be addressing reform within the health care system, having the wisdom as a body to recognize what is working with health care reform and what isn't working and then try to deal with that with fixes and needed adjustments along the way.
This was an unintended consequence affecting expat health insurance plans. In my view, there are competitiveness issues from those insurance plans offering expat coverage compared to what other foreign plans are offering, but also the ability of people to be able to work and live effectively abroad.
Even the administration has admitted in their Statement of Administration Policy that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. They have identified certain shortcomings of this legislation, from consumer protections to issues affecting the Tax Code, but I am sure that as we move forward today, hopefully with bipartisan support, the Senate will have an opportunity to address many of these concerns, and we will have to continue to work with the administration with the legitimate concerns that they continue to raise.
Again, this is, I think, an approach that we should be taking as a nation right now, having the wisdom to understand what is working and also dealing with the unintended consequences of health care reform, which affects one-fifth of the entire U.S. economy. You are not going to change that overnight. If you try, you are going to introduce shocks to the system that aren't going to work for people.
I think this is an honest approach done in a bipartisan fashion with a lot of listening on both sides and a lot of vetting of issues that I think are legitimately being raised right now in order to address one of those small, unintended consequences of the health care reform.
I think, clearly, everyone recognizes more work needs to go into this legislative package in order to allay some of the concerns. The Senate, again, will have an opportunity to address and will continue to engage the administration in order to address some of the concerns that they are raising, as well. But this is a good, I think, first honest approach in order to find that solution so we don't see the detrimental job impact occurring right here in the United States and that we do allow affordable and quality health care coverage for those workers overseas.
Again, I commend my friends, Mr. Carney and Mr. Nunes, for the outreach and the work that they have put into this legislation. I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation as it moves forward.
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