John Fleming

Mr. FLEMING

Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, before the August recess, I introduced a resolution to hold Members accountable for their health care reform decisions. House Resolution 615 simply states that if Members of Congress vote for the government takeover of health care, they agree to give up their private insurance paid for by the taxpayers and enroll in the government-run plan. So far, 78 Republican Members have joined as cosponsors but not one Democrat. Over 750,000 Americans from every State have contacted my office in support of this resolution. They are demanding that if government-run health care is good enough for Americans young and old, then it should certainly be good enough for the Members of Congress and their families. How dare Congress force government-run health care down the throats of our fellow Americans and not be willing to choose it for themselves. Mr. Speaker, you have heard people speak out on this. Isn't it time for every Member of this body to stand up and be accountable to the people they represent by taking a dose of their same medicine they prescribe to their constituents? To my fellow Congressmen, won't you now join me in cosponsoring House Resolution 615 and prove that personal accountability finally does exist in Washington?

Mr. FLEMING

Mr. FLEMING. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 3326, the ``Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010.'' I have requested funding for the following projects in Fiscal Year 2010: Nuclear Enterprise Surety Tracking, Account: RDTE, AF. Recipient: United States Air Force, Global Strike Command (Barksdale AFB, Louisiana). In support of AFGSC at Barksdale AFB, funds would support the Air Force's efforts to reinvigorate the Nuclear Surety Mission by combining a suite of technologies and applications on a bio-metrically secure handheld computing device to enable the real-time tracking of nuclear warheads and nuclear bombs across all USAF installations. Reconstitution of B-52 Nuclear Capability Study, Account: RDTE, AF. Recipient: United States Air Force, Global Strike Command (Barksdale AFB, Louisiana). In support of the 2nd Bomb Wing and Headquarters, Eighth Air Force at Barksdale AFB, FY10 funds would provide for a comprehensive study of nuclear vulnerabilities to assure the B-52 bomber can meet its nuclear mission. Project will support the USAF/ Global Strike Command mission to reinvigorate the Air Force nuclear enterprise. The goal is to produce a prioritized list of recommendations that will enhance the B-52 fleet's capability to execute its nuclear role in support of USSTRATCOM commitments. Consistent with the Republican Leadership's policy on earmarks, I hereby certify that to the best of my knowledge, this request: 1) is not directed to an entity or program that will be named after a sitting Member of Congress, 2) is not intended to be used by an entity to secure funds for other entities unless the use of funding is consistent with the specified purpose of the earmark, and 3) meets or exceeds all statutory requirements for matching funds where applicable. I also hereby certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Mr. FLEMING

Mr. FLEMING. Yes.

Mr. FLEMING. Well, I thank my friend and fellow colleague, both a physician and fellow Member of Congress, Bill Cassidy, and also fellow Louisianan. And of course tonight we're going to be talking about a lot of different things relative to what is really the hottest topic maybe in a decade, health care reform, which both sides of the House are very interested in. You know, you hear often from this side of the aisle that well, for heavens sakes, we want health care reform. But you guys, on the other hand, Republicans, you want the status quo. Well, I can tell you personally, that I ran for Congress with the overarching intent of getting up here and participating in reform. What I want to bring forth first, before we get into some more details is, I think there's a litmus test as to how good a government-run system is, that proposed by the President and the Democrats. And so, the question is, a rhetorical question is, if it's so good, then shouldn't Congress be the first ones to sign up for it individually, for them and their families? And, in fact, to see to that, I set forth House Resolution 615, which is supported by 66 Republicans, including our leadership on down, and all it says is that if a Member of Congress votes for a government-run health plan, a public option, if you will, then he or she is willing to forego the waiver, the carve out, the exception, if you will, that's built into their version, and join it immediately for themselves.

Mr. FLEMING. I'm sad to say to my friend, and I thank you for yielding back, that so far we have no Democrats, goose egg, zero Democrats.

Mr. FLEMING. Well, I think that is the $100,000, or shall I say, $1.6 trillion question, because apparently they're not so enthralled with it that they would like to be in it themselves. And in fact, I put it to the test by actually putting it on my Web site and asking people if they would like their congressman to support it, that they would actually reach out. We have 150,000 Americans who signed the petitions, and the number is growing drastically every day. And so I would say that, as we go through this debate, that we simply ask our constituents out there to hold us in Congress accountable by contacting your Congressperson or Senator or even the President and say, Mr. President, Mr. or Ms. Congressperson, Mr. or Ms. Senator, will you go to fleming.house.gov and sign up, cosponsor or whatever, House Resolution 615, that simply says that if you're willing to vote for it you're willing to join it.

Mr. FLEMING. Well, my answer to the gentleman is that I would look to the experience of other health care systems in other countries. If you look at Medicare and Medicaid, we've not been able to do that. Medicare is running out of money. We don't have a solution to that. The States all across the country are having tremendous difficulty figuring out how they're going to pay for Medicaid budgets, their part of it. And then if you look at the U.K., you look at Canada, countries around the world who have these systems, none of them have been able to claim that they can control costs. They're inflation rates are 10 percent or more.

Mr. FLEMING. Absolutely.

Mr. FLEMING. In my opinion, no, because, again, if you can't do it for a smaller system, how can you enlarge the system and somehow make it mysteriously work, particularly when there are no models? Massachusetts, Tennessee, TennCare, and so on and so forth, no one has an example of a government-run system that works.

Mr. FLEMING. Will the gentleman yield? May I add that the bill, itself, is scored at over $400 billion to be taken out of the current Medicare program. That's over $400 billion to be taken out of the current Medicare program. So that's actually in their bill itself. So I don't see how they can claim that the elderly will get more care. They're only going to get less care.

Mr. FLEMING. Yes.

Mr. FLEMING. Absolutely. I will tell you, approximately 5 years ago, and this is when health savings accounts really----

Mr. FLEMING. Yes. A health savings account is really very simple, where either the subscriber--the employee--or the employer, as in our case, puts part of the subscription costs into a savings account.

Mr. FLEMING. Not only does he control, but it is nontaxed, and he can use it to buy prescription drugs, to pay the deductible or whatever. And we were up against a situation where, like many small businesses, our premiums were going up 9, 10 percent, sometimes 15 percent per year, and we were pulling our hair out trying to figure out what else we could do. And this idea of health savings accounts came out, and we said, Well, let's try this. I had some reluctance from my employees, but we increased the deductible, and the extra amount that we would have paid for the increase in subscription costs, we put it into a health savings account for each and every one of them. The results were dramatic. The costs flatlined. They did not go up. And since then, they've never gone up more than 3 percent a year. It's empowered the employee, the patient, the family, to buy medications at will. And it was very interesting. I had one employee who was complaining as we implemented. She said, Well, gee, I spend $200 a month for inhalers, and how is this going to help me out because I'm going to be spending a lot of time. I said, Well, let me suggest that you stop smoking, and with the money that you save by not having to use inhalers, you will have plenty of money left over. She took me up on it, and now she doesn't need them.

Mr. FLEMING. Absolutely.

Mr. FLEMING. Absolutely.

Mr. FLEMING. Why is it that they can't do that now?

Mr. FLEMING. You often hear rhetoric from the Democrat side of the aisle that we are the party of the status quo, the party of no, we don't want reform. That is the main thing I ran on to come to Congress. I want health care reform. But I want commonsense reform, not nonsense reform, and that's what the Democrats are offering us. The first completed bill--there are different versions of bills on the Republican side, but the first completed bill that's actually been dropped because we've been working behind the scenes for weeks and months to get it perfect, is the Empowering Patients First Act, which I am a proud original cosponsor, and here are some basic parts of it. No. 1, access to coverage for all Americans. It covers preexisting conditions, and that is the big problem that everybody is talking about here tonight, risk pools.

Mr. FLEMING. Yes.

Mr. FLEMING. You are correct.

Mr. FLEMING. It also protects employer-sponsored insurance. But on the other hand, it actually gives ownership of the plans to the individual, and also the individual can buy it outside of their employer.

Mr. FLEMING. This does not exist. This matrix that you see there with Dr. Boozman, that does not exist in this plan.

Mr. FLEMING. That is correct.

Mr. FLEMING. That is correct. And also, the government will have to actually certify all health plans. It will be a one-size-fits-all.

Mr. FLEMING

Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, as a doctor, one of the main reasons I came to Congress was to push for health care reform, that is, commonsense reform, not nonsense reform as proposed by our Democrat colleagues. That's why I'm proud to be an original cosponsor of the Empowering Patients First Act, a Republican bill for reform. This bill contains all of the essential elements of good health care reform, including expanding private insurance to all Americans who want it, removing preexisting illnesses, improving portability, subsidies to the working poor, access to excellent primary and specialty care and, of course, instituting lawsuit reform. All of this is accomplished without a government takeover, without gutting Medicare, without long lines or bureaucrats interfering in the sacred doctor-patient relationship; and it is budget neutral. It is obvious that private insurance, no matter who pays for it, is the gold standard. As we return to our districts and debate this important issue, I believe we will find that Americans truly want private insurance options, not the government takeover of health care with the Soviet-style central planning of our economy.