Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, Americans are hurting because of the high cost of health care. I am a medical doctor. We need to fix the system. It is affecting everybody. It is health care financing that is the problem. Why are health care expenses so high? In my rural south Georgia medical practice, I had a lab. Congress passed a bill called CLIA, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act, that shut down my lab. Prior to being shut down, if a patient came to see me with a red, sore throat and running a fever, I would do a CBC, a complete blood count, to see if they had a bacterial infection and thus needed antibiotics, or a viral infection where antibiotics are not going to help. I charged $12 to do the test in 5 minutes. CLIA shut my lab down. I had to send patients across the way to the hospital, 2 to 3 hours at $75. It is government intrusion into the health care system that has caused this high cost. We have got to get the government out of it. This public option is going to force everybody from their private insurance over to a public insurance where the system is already broken, where we are having rationing of care and where a government bureaucrat is going to make health care decisions for you. The American people need to stand up and say ``no'' to this public option.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I heard just recently about a patient in Canada that had such severe knee pain that he was having to take narcotics. It took him over 1 year just to go see an orthopedic surgeon. If a patient comes to see me and has knee pain, I pick up the telephone and call an orthopedic surgeon and I'll get them within a week or two. But it took this patient over 1 year to ever go see the orthopedic surgeon and to get the x rays that he needed to evaluate his knee pain. When he finally saw the orthopedic surgeon, the doctor said, Well, you need this surgery. And the Canadian said, Well, that's fine. Let's schedule it. He said, No, we have to put you on a wasting list. So he came--I don't know if he came to one of your local hospitals there in Michigan--but he came to the U.S. to get his surgery done on his knee. And that's exactly what this government program is going to do to Americans. But where are we going to go if they indeed put this into place?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to point out something in plain English, as Mr. Akin was just doing. We hear on the House floor here over and over again that there are 45 million or 47 million people that don't have health care in this country. That's false. It's a blatant falsehood that's being perpetuated on the floor of this House. Everybody in this country has access to health care. The question is where do they get it, who pays for it, and at what cost. The reason everybody in this country has access to health care is because they walk into any emergency room in this country, and under Federal law, the emergency room doctor, the emergency room has to evaluate and essentially treat everybody who walks in. That's the reason if you walk into an emergency room in Augusta, Georgia, or Athens, or Elberton or anyplace in my district, you will see the emergency room filled with illegal aliens who are going there. The taxpayers of America are paying for their health care in the hospitals, and the hospitals are getting to the point where they can't continue it but it's because of Federal law that they have to treat these illegal aliens. So everybody has access to health care. So we are really talking about two things in this health care debate, not one. It's not monolithic. We have health care system and the provision of health care on one side, which is absolutely the very best in the world, and we have health care financing on the other hand that is broken. And we'll all agree that health care financing is broken, but it's broken because of government and government regulation and government intrusion in the health care system. And they want to make more intrusion into the system, which is going to make it more expensive. It's going to raise taxes on everybody in this country. It's going to raise the cost of every single good and service in this country because it's going to be mandated to all businesses, so they're going to have to charge more for their goods and services. So everything's going to go up. Our economy is going to go down. I can see the headlines a few years from now. Headlines: Obama lied, the economy's dead. And that's a potential that we have with this health care system. And it's absolutely critical the American public understand that it is going to be extremely expensive. It's going to increase costs to everybody, and it's going to raise taxes on small business so people are going to be put out of work because of this plan that's being introduced today.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. This health care bill is going to put more people out of work. More people are going to be unemployed. And it's going to hurt the economy even more, which is going to mean more cost to the American taxpayers. So taxes are going to go up and the cost of health care is going to skyrocket.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. It's 14 percent in many of my counties in the 10th Congressional District in Georgia.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. We are the Party of Know, K-N-O-W.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I want to applaud the gentleman from Arizona's efforts to put this plan together. I want to point out something. We, as Republicans, are accused of being the ``Party of No'' by the folks on the other side, the Democrats. But I want to--if I could tell the American people this--I can't in the rules of the House--but the Republican Party is actually the Party of Know--K-N-O-W. We know how to fix things, and I congratulate Mr. Shadegg for putting together an alternative to present to the American public. I'm working on one in my office also that's a little different from Mr. Shadegg's, and there are other plans being developed on the Republican side. We know how to fix it and to look to the free enterprise system to fix things and not look to socialism, which is what our colleagues on the Democrat side look to. They look to socialism, they look to central command, they look to a Washington bureaucrat to tell us how to run not only health care, but I want to also indicate we have had plans about a lot of things. We had an energy plan. The American Energy Act that I was a cosponsor of--and I think probably every one of us here tonight were cosponsors-- that would have made America energy independent. We've developed on our Republican side plans to stimulate the economy by cutting taxes on small business and creating real jobs. The Democrats' centralized plans that create a bigger Washington, more bureaucracy has not worked. Where are the jobs? But we had a plan on the Republican side that would have actually created jobs. And over and over again, the Democrats that claimed that we are the Party of No, N-O, will only allow their plan to be presented to see the light of day here in this House. That's dictatorship, in my opinion.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. That includes lung cancer; it includes stomach cancer or pancreatic cancer or muscle cancers, bone cancers, blood cancers, et cetera. That should be astonishing to the American public to look at those values. Please tell us about----

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify this for all of us here in the House tonight, plus for the people who are watching on C-SPAN. This includes all cancers; is that correct?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I appreciate it. In noting what Mr. Hoekstra is talking about and in going back to what Mr. Shadegg was talking about, I want to point out the reason there is such a difference in the survival rates for these two cancers. The American people need to look at it. It's not just because we're Americans. It's because, in those systems, people are put on waiting lists, as your prior chart noted, Mr. Shadegg. It is also because the government system won't pay for the new procedures, for the new medications. So it's because of delayed treatments, of delayed evaluations of lumps in a breast, because of delayed or denied services. That's going to come under this plan that the Democrats have proposed today. It's coming to every single American. That's the reason the survival rates are so much lower for prostate cancer and breast cancer. The thing is, and what's going to happen is, our survival rates are going to actually go down and match some of those others. The American people need to understand that. If I can speak to them, that's one thing that I would say. The delayed treatment and denied treatment is going to wind up killing people. That's what this plan is going to do. It's literally going to kill people.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Okay. I'd like to speak to Mr. Shadegg's point there before he leaves if he could stick around a second.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I hope they will, too. I applaud the Blue Dogs for asking from the leadership. I hope they don't hold their breath because I think they'll turn blue and die from hypoxia. But I want to point out something that Dr. Gingrey was talking about that, and that Ms. Blackburn brought up very clearly. This tax increase on small business is going to cost jobs, not 1 or 2, not 10 or 20, not 100, but thousands of jobs, because small businesses all across this country are not going to be able to pay for the increased taxes that the Democrats are going to put on the back of small business men and women around this country. So many people are going to be out of work, and it's going to shift them over to the public plan. They're going to get free health care. We have heard several of our colleagues say, if you think health care is expensive now, wait till you get it when it's free. It's going to be extremely expensive.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I just signed a pledge this afternoon to the American people that I will not vote for this bill until I read it, and I meant that. I don't sign pledges----

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. They shut it down. CLIA shut every doctor's lab in the country. Patients would come in with aching all over, a red sore throat, and so I would do a CBC to see if they had a bacterial infection and thus needed antibiotics, if there was a strep throat that might need a penicillin shot, or if they had a viral infection that could look exactly the same. And a viral infection is not helped by antibiotics. The teaching in the Medical College of Georgia and all of my training postgraduate has encouraged doctors not to overprescribe medications. It is costly. It increases the cost to everybody. Also, if people have viral infections, they don't need antibiotics. Actually, it is harmful to some patients. So, I do a CBC, 12 bucks, 5 minutes. CLIA shut my lab down. I had to send patients across the way to the hospital. They got a waiver. It cost $75 and took 2 to 3 hours for one test. Now do you see what that does across the whole health care system? It markedly increased the cost. Congress not just a few years ago passed HIPPA, the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act. That has cost the health care industry, thus insurance and all of us, billions of dollars. It has not paid for the first aspirin to treat the headaches it has created. It was totally unneeded legislation. It was totally unneeded because we could have done something to make insurance portable without going that route. So, government intrusion into the health care system and Medicare policy is what has driven up the cost for everybody. And it comes back to what Mr. Shadegg was saying about asking a question, could any of us answer the question about has government's being involved in any area decreased the cost. And the answer is ``no.'' It has increased the cost markedly for the health insurance of everybody else. And it is going to in this too.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Anything, to do blood sugars and blood counts and those sort of things.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank Mr. Akin for yielding again to me. I want to come back to something that my dear friend John Shadegg said where he is talking about cost. I just wanted to inject here something that happened in my medical practice when I was practicing down in southwest Georgia. And what I'm fixing to say is going to point out that government intrusion in the health care system is what has driven up the cost for everybody, whether they are private insurers or public insurers on Medicare, SCHIP or Medicaid. Back a number of years ago, I was in private practice. I had a one- man office with several employees. And I had a fully automated lab in my office. A patient would come in to see me with a red sore throat, running a fever, aching all over, coughing, runny nose and white patches on their throat. In my fully automated lab, I would do a CBC, a complete blood count. I could do that in 5 minutes and charge $12. Well, Congress passed a bill and signed into law what is called the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act, or CLIA. It shut down my lab. It shut down every doctor's lab in this country. All the hospital labs had to get a waiver----

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Akin. It was humorous to me-- actually, sad to me--because this Democrat, she said to me that all they're going to do is cover those who are not insured with this public option and give them the opportunity to buy into this public option if they don't have insurance. And I told her, How are you going to keep companies from canceling their insurance and from people being shifted over? That's going to increase the cost of insurance for everybody else, and so you're going to see just a continual shifting. Isn't that, Dr. Roe or Mrs. Blackburn, isn't that what you all saw in Tennessee?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I'm a physician, and I'm concerned about what goes on in people's homes and the safety in those homes. And I commend the sponsor of this bill for introducing it here before the House. I think the American people are more concerned about other things now than just home safety. That is certainly everyone's concern, but I think their economic concerns are extremely important to the American people also, Madam Speaker. I also believe that energy independence is of extreme concern to the American people too. Republicans have offered alternatives to the tax-and-cap bill that this House passed just a couple of weeks ago. It is over in the Senate. In my opinion, it should die over there. The American people must stand up and understand how this is going to increase the cost of not only their energy sources, but it is going to increase the cost of everything that they buy. Out of every dollar that they spend, some of it is going to come to the Federal Government in the nature of an increased energy tax which is going to be disastrous. We on the Republican side have introduced legislation that would make America independent. But that bill has not seen the light of day on the floor of this House. Why is that? It is because the Democratic majority and the leadership will not allow that to happen. I think if that bill were to come to the floor of the House of Representatives, and the American people were to see it, we would pass it. But if we passed it over this huge energy tax that is in the tax-and-cap bill, then the revenue would not be available to pay for the health care bill. The President recently said he needed that revenue to pay for the health care bill that he has promoted and that is being introduced this week in the House of Representatives, ``Obama Care.'' And Obama Care, as a physician, I can tell you is going to be disastrous for my colleagues and me and for our patients because it is going to insert a Washington bureaucrat between the doctor and the patient, and that Washington bureaucrat is going to be making health care decisions. It is going to be extremely expensive. Just last night, I held a tele-town hall meeting and asked a question of the people on the line about what concerns them about this Obama Care program that is being proposed by the Democrat majority. Overwhelmingly, they were concerned about the cost, as well as Washington bureaucrats inserting themselves in health care decisions. They were overwhelmingly concerned about the taxes that are going to go up for everybody in this country. There are a lot of tax increases that we already know are going to be in this bill because we have seen the draft. We understand we are going to have the bill today in final form, at least the final form before all the manager's amendments and before markups are done. We have a lot of things going on here that the American people need to understand are going to be disastrous for them, for their health care and for their economy. It is going to hurt people. It is going to hurt people because the economy is going to fall just like we are concerned about falls and other things in our home and home safety. Our grandchildren are going to live at a lower standard than we live today if we keep passing these bills. We have got unprecedented debt. We have got unprecedented deficits. Right now, the most abused credit card in this country today is this card, the voting card that Members of Congress use. This is a credit card that the Chinese are picking up the debt that we are creating with the use of this card. Madam Speaker, we have to stop this egregious, outrageous spending that this Congress is doing. It is going to kill the American economy. It is going to destroy the health care system that is being proposed in this health care bill that is being presented today. We have got to stop it, Madam Speaker. So it is not just about home safety. It is about economic well being. It is about our children's future. Madam Speaker, it just grieves me to see the direction that this country is going. It grieves me to know what my two grandchildren that I have now are going to have to face in the way of paying back the debt that we cannot pay, my children can't pay and that my grandchildren and their children probably are going to have a hard time paying too. So, Madam Speaker, we are heading in a bad, bad direction. The American people need to stand up and understand what is going on and say ``no'' to Obama Care, ``no'' to tax-and-cap, the so-called ``cap- and-trade'' bill, and ``no'' to all of this increased debt and increased deficits which are going to take away jobs that we have already seen in tremendous job losses, take away jobs, and it is going to ruin the economy.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.