Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. BACA. Anthem Blue Cross in my home State of California is trying to raise premiums by 39 percent. This is only the beginning if we do nothing. We must give the American people, not the insurance companies, more control. If we do nothing, the American people will continue to pay higher premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs now and in the future.

We cannot, our families cannot, afford to do nothing. Health reform will hold health insurance companies accountable; end discrimination based on preexisting conditions; cut and eventually close the doughnut hole for thousands of seniors, including 5,200 seniors in my district; cut the national deficit; and produce over 4 million new jobs in the coming decade. That is 400,000 new jobs every year.

Health care reform will bring coverage to 219,000 in my district and 31 million nationwide for the very first time in history. This is a historic moment. In 1935, we passed Social Security. In 1965, we passed Medicare. We must pass health reform now.

END

Source