This Saturday, the first leg of health care reform "will provide the key safety net," Larson said.
"We created history. It's great that this is a historic moment," he said.
"This is a national security issue," Larson said.
Disease "has no borders" and with the global economy that keeps shrinking the world, he said. The planes and boats and ships bring "the perils of a shrinking world" by carrying problems quickly everywhere.'
"Our system is broken," Larson said, with spending twice as high as any other country while 47 million have no insurance.
Investing in information infrastructure alone would save $700 billion over a decade, he said.
The new bill's costs will be covered by savings in standardization in forms and information reform, Larson said.
"When facing a national security problem, a person security problem and seeing what's available for us to attain and bend the curive, bring the cost back down and provide for all Americans access to health care and at the same time reform our health care system, it was long overdue," Larson said.
He said it is not a perfect bill, but "we're a democracy" and everyplace has different interests.
"Yet this had to be done," Larson said.
Not OK to say that tens of millions of fellow citizens should live without health insurance, he said.
How can we "not look home at our own fellow Americans" while spending money all over the world, he said.
"We have an economic Katrina," Larson said. "We cannot sit idly and let that happen."
Pre-existing conditions would no longer bar policy coverage. Costs out of pocket "will be capped" and "we will provide competition," Larson said.
There will be an opportunity for people to purchase insurance for "low-cost rates," Larson said.
"Not all insurance companies were opposed to a public option," he said. Some recognized there are 47 million more customers "waiting for them."
They want to ensure there is "a level playing field," Larson said.
He said he is astounded by those who say to keep government out of their health care while they have Medicare or TriCare, which are government programs.
With so big a problem "you'd think we would all have an oar in the water and rowing together," Larson said.
He said there are so many innovations coming down the pike.
"Coming and seeking and aiding one another" is an American tradition of the commonweal, he said. "We have to pull together as a nation."
It's crucial to provide primary care for all, that we have a system "that will secure the health and well-being of our people," Larson said.
It's a way to create jobs and promote more innovation, he said. It's crucial to create jobs with technology that can be sold around the world.
"There is not one of you in this audience who doesn't know somebody who was denied coverage, who lost coverage" or faced bankruptcy because of health care bills, Larson said.
People who get sick shouldn't have to face the choice of their homes and their health, he said.
"The time to act is now. We cannot postpone it into the future," Larson said.
He said the country has to focus on education, too, including community colleges.
"We get there by investing in American people," business and technology, Larson said. He said the country needs to invest in its manufacturing, education and more.
He said the health care measure "is far from perfect. It is far from optimal. But we will get there," the congressman said.
He said "the constant input" that Congress gets from everyday Americans makes a difference.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
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