Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support HR 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act.  We have a golden opportunity to plant the sapling of healthcare reform. I want to remind my colleagues that America’s Affordable Health Choices Act is just the beginning of a better national healthcare structure. Together we can work to make it grow.  We must plant this sapling now, before it is killed by the wayside as it has so many times before. 

Our efforts to tackle healthcare began under the leadership of President Harry S. Truman, who attempted to include universal health insurance under the Fair Deal reforms. Hilary Clinton spearheaded this effort in the 90’s and, now, thankfully, President Obama has made it one of his top priorities.  We have known our options for years. Just because our Republican colleagues began to listen only recently does not mean that we have not carefully considered what is at stake. We are not rushing through deciding the fate of millions of Americans. Rather we have taken too long to deliver what is necessary.

The naysayers have rallied around the costs of this healthcare reform. Please recall that we have spent tens of billions of dollars in Iraq. The City of Los Angeles alone has spent $9 billion and the nation has spent $890 billion since the start of the unauthorized war. I agree the $1 trillion price tag of healthcare is hefty, but it is a better use of our taxpayer money than the Iraq war. I would rather reform the system now and reduce the costs that my constituents must bear directly.

Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have more than doubled in the last decade. This is 4 times faster than the average wage increase.  Middle class Americans have seen the average annual family contribution for employer-sponsored coverage rise to $3,354 in 2008 from $1,619 in 2000. For a family earning $50,000, health premium costs now consume 7% of their pre-tax income. Incomes are not rising to keep up with these costs, especially in an economy where so many people are losing their jobs. If this reform fails, we will have little hope of reigning in the skyrocketing costs of health care for the middle class.
To reduce the costs of healthcare for the average middle class working family, we have to reform the system and introduce a public option.

Madam Speaker, the public option is a necessary and pivotal part of the healthcare reform. With it in place, Congress introduces competition into the healthcare system.  With fair price competition, we introduce efficiency and quality, not bureaucracy.  Rather, with the basic benefits guaranteed in the Exchange, I hope that insurance companies and the government will be left outside of the examining room. With the public plan, we offer Americans personal patient choice and the freedom to stay healthy.

I want to iterate that once more. This reform is about the freedom of choice. Our plan offers Americans to keep their health insurance if they choose to keep it. In the public plan, we are only offering the public in the Exchange the option to choose the plan that is created by the government. The public plan may not be perfect, but it establishes a strong framework that we can build on.

 Bringing healthcare to the floor means that Congress is ready to ensure that Americans have health insurance. We are making small businesses more attractive by providing them with a means with which to offer their employees health insurance. We are reducing the crushing costs on our large employers. We are providing the people with more choice.

I truly hope this is the historic first step on the road to making healthcare for all Americans possible. Madam Speaker, I look forward to voting with my colleagues on this issue.  Thank you, and I yield back the remainder of time.