i'm going to make sure that even understands when you go in for a dual energy c.t. scanner that the technology took place out here at marshall. i'm going to make sure when off mammogram or when your wife has a mammogram, i will be sure that you know that the technology in the hubble telescope makes that mammogram even more accurate. and i'm going to make sure that we fund thats spnasa. i have been and continue to be disappointed that we that went to the moon, we need to go again. i'm ready for a commitment from the administration and i have a group of people that i think will work with me to make certain we fund the programs we need. >> do you believe this party could play any role in the next election? is there concern or worry in your mind? >> i didn't make it for the political concern. i'll run a race and all of you who are here a year ago or two years ago know i love politics. i love to politic. i love people and i love this district. so this is not about politics. this is about a conviction that had that america is on the wrong track and that the leadership in

because the prices set for an x-ray who are a mammogram or a c.t. or a blood test, they are set a by medicare -- they are set by medicare now. there's no arbitrariness. the government sets the price for every medicare test out there by region. so there's no way to game it, as the senator from illinois said it was gamed. the best reason to have a lab and a doctor's office is so you don't have to wait and come back for another visit to the doctor that charges medicare another $60, because you get the answer right then. we want to eliminate that. so what will we do? there's no cost savings in that. there is a cost increase. because now instead of giving an answer to a patient, you're going to wait after you send it back to the lab and have it come back in. mr. mccain: may i ask the senator a fundamental question here. how does the senator envision that we can eliminate the fraud, abuse, and waste and institute significant savings -- one of the ways is retain the provisions in this amendment, this motion to commit, that uses the savings from fraud, abus

a study by the organization for economic cooperation and development showed that the number of c.t. scanners per million in population was seven and a half in britain, 11.2 in canada, and 30.2 in the united states. for the m.r.i.'s, there was an average of five m.r.i.'s per million population in britain, 5.5 in canada, and 26.6 in the united states. government-run health care will undermine patients' choice of care. mr. president, citizens in those countries are told by government bureaucrats what health care treatments they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them. americans need to understand, i believe, that all countries with socialized medicine, rationed health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce treatments. simply put, government financing means government control, and government control means less personal freedom. and while we need inaccurate reforms to our health care system that will reduce costs and improve access, our nation cannot withstand the deep deficits this colossal health care entitlement program i believe would create.

colonoscopy, that's when we go in to look at the colon, medicare denies you the ability for you to have a c.t. automated camera-centered swallowed pill colonoscopy, which is being used outside of medicare, but you can't have a video colonoscopy by way of a remote control camera. now, why did c.m.s. eliminate that? they eliminated it, it cost too much. now, so if you're 87 years owed and you've got a mass in your colon and you cannot have a regular colonoscopy, you can't even buy this procedure. it is against the law. because medicare forbids it. number two -- and this has happened to me numerous times -- women with severe osteoporosis, a loss of calcium in their bones, at 50 years of age, diagnosed with a dexascan in a screening, so they don't get a collapsed vertebra or break a hip, you put them on a medicine. the medicine is expensive, there's to this question. but they really do work. some medicines work for some people, other medicines work for others. once you do a dexiscan, under medicaid rules, medicare rules, you can't do another one for two years. so you can't check to see if the med

it will even hit cutting-edge technologies like c.t. scanners. why would we do this? well, the american taxpayers are the ones that will put tooth the bill for the tax because, according to the congressional budget office, the medical device tax -- and i'm quoting now -- would increase the costs for the affected firms which could be passed on to purchasers and would ultimately raise insurance premiums by a corresponding a. so congress taxes -- by a corresponding amount. so congress taxes a manufacturer, they pass on the tax in the cost of the item to the individual who takes it, the insurance companies usually have to pay for that, their premiums go up to reflect the cost. another reason why under this bill, insurance premiums don't go down, they go up. so this tax means increased costs for health insurers who, in turn, pass it on to patients in the form of higher premiums. and by the way, this would go into effect immediately, even though subsidies for government-mandated insurance are not available until the year 2014. so the net impact would be an $8 billion increa

because the prices set for an x-ray who are a mammogram or a c.t.or a blood test, they are set a by medicare -- they are set by medicare now. there's no arbitrariness. the government sets the price for every medicare test out there by region. so there's no way to game it, as the senator from illinois said it was gamed. the best reason to have a lab and a doctor's office is so you don't have to wait and come back for another visit to the doctor that charges medicare another $60, because you get the answer right then. we want to eliminate that. so what will we do? there's no cost savings in that. there is a cost increase. because now instead of giving an answer to a patient, you're going to wait after you send it back to the lab and have it come back in. mr. mccain: may i ask the senator a fundamental question here. how does the senator envision that we can eliminate the fraud, abuse, and waste and institute significant savings -- one of the ways is retain the provisions in this amendment, this motion to commit, that uses the savings from fraud, abuse