Prepared remarks:

Mr. Speaker,

Since 1970 health care costs have increased an average of 9.9% a year, far outpacing inflation, creating a drag on our economy and increasing the expense of hiring new employees.  This trend is unsustainable.

Yet while costs are increasing, the quality of coverage is declining.  Last year the inability to pay medical bills caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the United States, even though the filer had health insurance in 75% of these cases. 

That is 868,000 American families who went broke last year simply because they had the bad luck to get sick and either did not have insurance or their insurer refused to cover the bills.  That is unacceptable.

I often say that “health care reform needed a start, not a finish” and that we will be amending and improving the law for years to come. 

However, the bill before us today takes us back, not forward, with no persuasive plan to reduce costs or improve coverage.  This challenge deserves a more serious response.

I urge opposition to the bill and yield back the balance of my time.