Washington, D.C. – Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) made the following remarks tonight during debate of H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi’s government takeover of health care.
“Thank you, Madame Speaker.
“Healthcare, at its very core, is a compassionate and a moral human endeavor. As a physician, I can tell you that I never saw a Democrat or Republican disease. The medical decisions that each American makes for themselves and for their families are some of the most important and personal decisions ever made.
“And there are principles of health care that we should follow. Think about those principles, of access and affordability and quality and responsiveness, and innovation and choices. Think about those principles.
“None of those principles are improved by the further intervention of the federal government. Which is why we should adopt and concentrate on positive, patient-centered health care reform.
“It is so very important that principles be in place that will ensure that patients, and their families, and their doctors are able to make those personal medical decisions unencumbered by a stifling and oppressive federal government. But, sadly, this bill will not allow independent decisions and is wrong in so many ways.
“This bill – on page 94 – will make it illegal for any American to obtain healthcare not ‘approved’ by Washington.
“This bill – on page 301 – will force Americans to purchase the health coverage that Washington picks, not that you select for yourselves.
“This bill – on pages 297 & 313 – places job-killing taxes on virtually every single business.
“This bill – on page 211 – will force millions of Americans to lose their current personal, private health coverage.
“This bill – comes with a price tag of $1.3 trillion, which will be borne by our children and our grandchildren.
“This bill – on page 520 – slashes billions of dollars from Medicare that will necessitate healthcare rationing for seniors.
“And this bill – on page 733 – empowers the Washington bureaucracy to deny life-saving patient care if it costs ‘too much’
“This bill is not a healthcare bill. This bill is an affront on the morality of the provision of American healthcare. As a physician, when patients, and their families, and their doctors are not allowed to independently decide what care should be provided, we lose more than our healthcare system. We lose our morality and our freedom.
“This bill, whether known or not, is an oppressive affront to every single American.
“The positive vote, the bipartisan vote, on this bill is no.”
