but when we have this same debate over and over again including the same language, the same case examples, the same one ever, i am puzzled by the efficacy of that. if it were fresh debate, new ideas or different things, a fine and then giving the language of little pieces of paper in which i'm going to commit the sacred fortunes in honor of the united states of america for decades, this is not the way to go. we can't do this on the backs of envelopes. and, so, i am for debate. i enjoy the debate. i love the interaction of the legislative process, but i think we really have to say, what is full debate and what is just really running the clock? >> i agree. the meeting will stand adjourned until monday.

[inaudible conversations]

today the chairman of several key house committees discuss their drafted legislation to overhaul the nation's healthcare system. speakers include representatives george miller of education, charles rangel of grain the beans and henry waxman of energy incomers. from capitol hill, this is 40 minutes. >> i'm congressman george miller, chair of the education and labor committee and co-chair of the democratic policy committee. today am honored to be joined with chairman charles rangel from the ways and means committee, chairman henry waxman of the energy and commerce committee, chairman john dingell and a respected-- perspective subcommittee chairs, pete stark from the ways and means committee, frank balloon from managing comers and raw benders from the education and labor committee. today marks a historic moment in american assurgent quest to fix their broken health insurance system. for the past six months are three committees, the committees

that of jurisdiction over healthcare and the house of work together an unprecedented manner to develop and present a healthcare reform discussion draft for congress and the american people that embodies president of hamas call for fundamental change in our healthcare system. president obama has assets to drop the reform bill that will control costs, guarantee choice and ensure quality and affordable healthcare coverage for all americans. i believe that our draft lives up to those essential principles. our discussion craft reflects months of hard work and the views of many of our colleagues. we have met with their respective democratic republican committee members, with their senate colleagues, with the cbo, the administration and other stakeholders in an open and collaborative process. to further this open and collaborative process our three committees will hold hearings on this draft starting next week. after the july 4th work period

are committees will then work to make refinements to the draft, to vote on it and send it to the house for. this is truly exciting is. the house decided to use this unified approach because we recognize that our ability to succeed in healthcare reform rests on our ability to work together. we know that inside the beltway turf battles will not a dance reformed. we believe that in order to change america's healthcare system congress itself must change. when the voters elected barack obama president they did not only send a message that the white house must change. they sent a strong message to the congress that we must work together for the common good of our nation. they told us that we will not be rewarded for standing on the sidelines or racing every conceivable argument against taking action. americans will judge us and by police so, by air willingness and determination to cooperate, focus on the ultimate in necessary goal of reforming our

healthcare system so that it works not just for a few, but for everyone in our country. that is why the approach that the three of us have taken in this process is one of the key factors that makes this year the year that we will finally fix a broken healthcare system. the current path of rising healthcare costs is unsustainable. no one disagrees with that. healthcare premiums says spiraled out of control, dealing a crushing blow to families and businesses alike and placing our fiscal future in peril. present obama is absolutely correct when he says of healthcare reform is essential to the health of our nation and the strength of our economy. in fact, healthcare reform is the single greatest tool to reduce runaway budget deficits. our discussion draft is the first up in building a truly american solution that will reduce costs, offer real choices in guarantee access to affordable, quality healthcare

for all. in the coming weeks, our committee will continue to seek input from all the stakeholders, the american people and members of congress. we mustin we will continue to move forward. if there's one thing that is off the table, it is saying no to healthcare reform. there's not one child, no one worker, no one employer, nor one taxpayer who can further pare the cost of doing nothing. i am confident that we will have the ability to respond to their needs and i would like to thank speaker policy, majority leader hoyer, the rest of our democratic leadership and all of our caucus and members of this congress for giving us the support and the input that we it needed to develop this uniquely american solution to finally bring quality affordable healthcare to our country. the next baker will be chairman henry waxman. >> thank you very much. i am henry waxman, chairman of

the energy and commerce committee and i am pleased to join with my colleagues and our respective committees that will have jurisdiction over this healthcare matter. in presenting a draft proposal from which we seek further comment by the public and our colleagues as we fashion a legislation. the draft is a very practical one, and it is a uniquely american proposal. of biltz on what works and fixes what needs to be fixed. first, we encourage the retention of insurance provided by employers, which is the way most people have their insurance. in other words, as the president has said the many occasions, if you have insurance and you like it, you get to keep it. secondly, we are going to address difficulties individuals and small businesses face in the current market. today people can't get coverage

if they have a preexisting medical condition. secondly, to many people are charged higher premiums, even if they can get insurance, because of their health status. and small businesses go into a completely dysfunctional insurance market when they try to get insurance for their employees or even for their loved ones. the market is dysfunctional and they face on affordable rate increases. that kind of discrimination will end. third, people who don't have employment-based insurance or a change in their jobs will always have access to affordable coverage, and they can take it with them wherever they may go. from one job to another, even if they are out of court. that insurance will be there for them. with that covers they will have the protection from the

catastrophic costs that are faced by many who need care and don't need coverage. choice is the key. choice is the key for consumers to pick which plan they want, whether it is a private insurance plans or a public insurance plan. choice is important for patients to be able to pick their own doctors. fourthly, we are taking comprehensive action to make sure that everyone gets more value for their healthcare spending. we are moving to get costs under control through pain and improvements and delivery reforms. and we are taking a number of steps to improve quality and reduce ethnic and racial disparities. under this proposal, at least 95% of americans will be covered, which helps us perceive them both the cost and the quality front.

fifth, we are improving medicare. people who have medicare will have that available to them and they will even have it better medicare system. we are going to take substantial steps to phase out the dawn of holt, the so-called dawn of hold that people face when they are pharmaceutical costs are too great. we are going to address one of the major concerns of physicians around this country and that is that we are going to permanently reformed the unfair physician payment cuts under current law. we are going to fix the sustainable growth rate or the str. six, we are making major investments in the workforce, making sure physicians and nurses and other health providers are available to meet patients' needs. there's an even stronger network of community health centers that will be available as well. and finally, we are going to enhance prevention and wellness

programs. they are absolutely essential to a true healthcare reform, so we are sharing coverage of preventive benefits and investing in the major community prevention initiatives. we are now ready to proceed. this legislation, and i want to stress this, is important for the health and the financial security of all americans. we are going to seek helpful-- help from our colleagues, from citizens, from interest groups. we are going to hold the hearing starting next week and we are going to keep on the schedule that the president has set out for us. we are going to be proceeding to figure out a final proposal to present to the house of representatives by the end of july. let me be clear, the time to act is now. the one choice we can't make is just to delay because the status quo is unacceptable.

we can keep the status quo or we can move to a new system. and this new system will be based on the vision of president obama and the vision he set out in his campaign, the vision for which she had a mandate to move forward, and the vision for which we stand ready to be of assistance. we will now hear from the chairman of the ways and means committee, charlie rangel. >> thank you. it has been a real pleasure for me to work with the chairman of energy and commerce and labor, putting together this bill. it has not been easy but did this really an educational process for all of us, and to be working in the shadows of john dingell's data and recognizing the historic quirkiest done over the years and the health reform system just reminds me of,

politicians, members of congress and presidents have said that they were going to do something about reforming the health system. now, for the first time the president has pulled together all the stakeholders, all of the people that fought against this over the years, to come together and to recognize that we have to do it for our country, we have to do it for citizens, we have to do it for our country, and we have to do it if we are going to remain competitive. everybody has a story, a horror story, of somebody that was on underinsured, didn't have insurance, didn't know the cost of the insurance. people who refuse to leave their jobs because they can't afford to lose their insurance. bankruptcies, foreclosures. all of these things because of the high cost of health insurance. where was america? behind all industrialized country, paying twice as much for insurance and not getting

access to quality. when the committees get together, it is no small task and we have not finished our work. we thought it was important enough to the members that they know what are we thinking about. we have had hearings-- every committee has set a half a dozen hearings and yet there are still members on the floor that have problems and understanding the difficult decisions that have to be made. in modernizing the system and paying for the system. but we thought that america should not have to wait. we want to get this discussion draft out there. we want to get the maximum support for this, so that doctors and health providers with no that we are sending all of these resources out there in order to have a healthier in stronger america. there is no question that we will be saving trillions of dollars in the industry, stopping the hemorrhaging is there, having employers that feel that they can do what they always wanted to do and that is

to give some assurances that their workers will not have to worry about their health, or the health coverage for their families. small employers the what to do it but could not afford to do it will be provided incentives. poor people and working people that are under insured and have no insurance that are dependent on the emergency rooms will now know that they can negotiate a health system. then to have a public health program, an option, so that they are not captive of the large insurance companies, but able to talk with them and compete and say that if you can't give me what i need, i can go to the exchange, i can go there and deal with the people that perhaps will give us a better chance. is this going to bring down the cost of health insurance? you bet your sweet life. i can't wait to talk to anybody, that is fighting against this public health insurance program. is going to be competitive.

the help information technology is going to force them to provide more options for people. we are sending out a 48 million people that have no insurance, and they will have in their negotiating hands, for the insurance companies can compete with, subsidies in order to get insurance. half of the people who up and underinsured will be able to negotiate. what is set in? it means providers will be able to know that the government is a friend and a partner of everyone seeking health insurance. so the industry is going to provide new jobs for the providers, nurses, doctors, primary-care doctors, center so that communities that never had access to healthcare will be able to do it. it is going to mean a stronger financial country, it is going to mean a stronger health country and it is going to be a strong moral standard that we will be setting in noted to do what we should've done a long

time ago. what an honor this for me to present to you john dingell, because i told him this afternoon. his dad has to be looking down on him saying, john is just about time. because, for all of the years that the spent in this congress, he can tell you the numbers of precedence that it said we are going to do it, but this time, on his watch, the dingell bill will be coming out and it is my pleasure to present my mentor to you, john dingell. >> i love you charlie. i love you charlie and thank you. data think is looking down unsmiling not only on the fact that we are on to do this but that i'm associated with six wonderful people and i am proud to be here with my colleagues and to tell you about how exciting this day is. i have for 50 years of healthcare reform, and the release of this discussion draft is the first up towards getting a bill passed this year.

what we have come up with is an american solution, much planning is gone into the discussion draft so that you and the rest of the nation will see today. but, now the real work begins. the work of explaining to our colleagues in the congress and making and the proposal available to the american people. we offered greater choice to the american people. the goal of the option to choose between plans, to keep that which they have now and to keep their doctor, or to make such changes as they wish as free americans to do. we will also give the people the choice of a high-quality public health insurance options that will compete fairly and evenly with the private companies, so as to provide a yardstick and a measure for people so that they can no what there is out there that will give them the best

choice of healthcare. on tuesday, i was a part of a hearing in which chairman bart stupak as they as the three insurance companies what they would do to stop the terrible practice of precision, which has left thousands of americans and burdened with costly medical bills, despite paying their insurance premiums in the fashion and that they are supposed to. and they all said they had no intention of doing that. person-- rescission is simply where you wait until a guy is sick and then he canceled his policy on him. this is something that has got to stop, along with some of the other abuses. use of not community rating systems and what they call preexisting conditions. there will be no decisions and the public optioned, and there will be none of the other abuses which we are seeing in the insurance practices that are now offered to the american people.

and consumer protections will be established in that option, that private companies have so far refused to do. so we are going to create competition and we are going to create choice and we are going to see to it that the public option included in this bill will not only see that people are treated fairly and have the option of having the kind of policy that they might want available, public or private, but it will also establish benchmarks regarding fair pricing and tribe innovations that will help reduce long-term's growth. the public auction mullah ensure competition in areas where there are few private plans. the only alternative to this that i see is counting on the insurance companies to fix the problems. it had 50 years to do it in more, and i can tell you that that is a terrible thought to make. while there may be some differences in opinions on the

specifics of the public auction, we share the goals. that is to fix americans broken healthcare system. something which used to be a matter of only humanitarian concern, but now which is a matter of desperate urgency, not just to american businesses who can afford this anymore, but to the national economy, which is going to go broke doing this. what we are releasing today i would stress is a discussion draft and i look forward to working with all parties as we move forward so that we can end up with the best bill possible. again i want to repeat how proud i am to be with my colleagues appear. we are going to give the american people what they need, what they deserve and what they want, a good, practical program of national healthcare. thank you. >> we will have some time to take questions. >> he had a fairly robust debate

about public options in a resolution that would describe how to approach the bill. have the guts many assurances that they agree with the concept that you have put forward today by the public option that would compete with private insurers? >> i don't know what the ama position is. how i want them to look at our track. i think there's a lot of misinformation about the idea of a public auction. some people think it is going to be a government takeover of healthcare, a single-payer system. that is not what we intend. we want to give people a chance to choose their own insurance plan, just like federal employees get to do, just like members of congress. we get a list of available insurance policies that we can choose.com and one of the choices that will be available to those to go into this exchange or marketplace and look

of the choices will be a public plan that will be on a level playing field. it will be a choice, no mandate for anybody to be in it, and will be for a lot of people, who want to make sure that they can rely on it, where they feel uncomfortable with the insurance companies and the way they have handled insurance over the years. but, i hope when the ama books of our proposal and when we hear from them at our hearings, they will give it a fair evaluation and. >> let me just respond to that, because i am anxious to take on those people who are opposing the public auction. i cannot think of any doctor that is being told that hundreds of billions of dollars are going to be out there and research and development that they will be providing nurses and doctors and

real support team. doctors who are concerned about practicing medicine would be able to say that this president and this congress have presented an atmosphere where that is what they can do. for those people who are afraid of competition, they shouldn't be in this business. this is what we are trying to do, make it an even playing field for all professionals to say they are getting better than a fair shake and what we are doing. i have talked with a lot of doctors as said thank you for giving us an opportunity to do what we decided to do when we went to medical school and that is to practice medicine. >> mr. chairman? you are united on your position -- are you concerned at all about health reform losing momentum, and given these divisions on public auction, you open to-- [inaudible] >> we set out in this joint

venture among the three committees to try to put language to what president obama had campaigned on in front of the american people, what he has said since coming to office, and this seesaw, he has continued to stress the need for a public auction and defend a public auction. we have put come again, a draft of the public auction in this legislation for other reasons that chairman dingell ally in. today health insurance for most american families is one big surprise. when the goatees did you find out it is not quite as is represented in the spent hours on the phone with exclusions in discussions and referrals to other legal documents that you didn't have the time you purchase it. we just think there ought to be a level playing field. there ought to be honest competition and the benefits ought to be as their stated and there when families and businesses need them. there are those in our caucus who don't fully agree with the public auction.

it had a series of discussions about that. there been modifications in this draft. we are at a point now for those discussions should continue in the committee's. so that people can make changes to the draft and prepare it and come to the floor. we have read all the different positions in the senate. we have had discussions back and forth of the continued to believe this is an important component of real healthcare reform an important benefit to american families, whether they choose the public plan or they choose the private plans and exchange. this is about choice. they will know that even the most private plans will be better, because of the public auction. >> just a follow-up. >> that is why this is a discussion draft. the next dep should be taken by the committee set to debate and deliberation and hearing from the witnesses. >> kenya explained why do you said the present number with the employer mandate?

>> we have now settled on anything. everything is on the table. this is nothing locked in cement. that is one of the ideas that are there. we talkies in every day, and i just want to report about momentum. i have been down here a long time, working with three committees and the word jurisdiction is not even come up. we are working with medicaid, medicare and all of these things so we have got the momentum. >> the devaney figures as far as a guesstimate about how far you can go as far as-- was a limit? >> how you plan to pay for it? >> we are working with the congressional budget office. in fact, every time we think of an alternative, will have a different score. sometimes the congressional budget office tells us one alternative cost less and

another one would cost more, and as a result of that interplay, and we are making their decisions. so, we don't have the figures of how much this is going to cost, but we are going to pay for this bill and we are going to pay for it in two ways. we are going to pay for it by cutting down on expenditures and some of the public programs, medicare and medicaid. we are going to pay for it by reforms in the system that will hold down costs for everyone. reforms like toys, and reforms like an emphasis on prevention and primary care. and we are going to pay for it by rabin is. we put out in our draft today a list of options for some of the cuts that could be made in existing programs. these are based on a menu of options that the president has submitted to us and we put them out there, and we will have them on the table as we consider where to make the cuts, and the revenue parts will be