Mark R. Warner

September 23, 2009

The cost of inaction

This morning, Senator Warner joined nine of his freshman colleagues in back-to-back speeches on the need to keeping moving forward on bipartisan health reform. 

All ten of the first-term Democratic senators discussed the high cost of doing nothing, and they argued that health reform not only must be paid for -- it also must reduce long-term costs for families and businesses.  

In his floor statement, Senator Warner said:

The subject that most of us are going to address today is what happens if we do nothing on this critically important issue. Because we, as recent additions to this body, are united by a simple but important truth: the rising cost of health care is hobbling American business and stressing family budgets. If we do nothing and it is left unchecked, it will explode our national debt. ...

"Mr. President, I think I speak for all of my freshman colleagues when I say we were not elected to do nothing. I think most of us didn’t run for office because we were satisfied with the direction of our nation. We were elected to work together with willing Republicans and Democrats to help turn this country around."

Here is Senator Warner's floor speech:

UPDATE: Here is some of the coverage of Senator Warner's speech. The Richmond Times-Dispatch summarized his speech:

Pointing to a chart titled "Bankrupting America," Warner said Americans spent more than $2.4 trillion on health care last year. The figure comes from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.

He said America's per-capita spending on health care is double that of most other developed nations and that the increasing costs of Medicare and Medicaid are having dire effects on the national debt.