House Proceeding 07-09-09 on Jul 9th, 2009 :: 0:20:05 to 0:25:40
Total video length: 4 hours 1 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:15 Duration: 0:05:35 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

0:20:01 to 0:20:22( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: to do so, because good policies that help tex answer and americ democrat. they are the right thing to do. i yield back. gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. sarbanes from maryland. mr. sarbanes: i wanted to talk about health care, because that is really the most pressing

0:20:05 to 0:25:40( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John Sarbanes

0:20:23 to 0:20:44( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: issue that's facing our country right now. it is tied to the economic situion of millions of americans. so even as we struggle to deal with this difficult economy, we can't lose sight of the importance of health care reform. now, we have in this country a real paradox with our health

0:20:45 to 0:21:05( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: care system because on the one hand, america has the best doctors. it has the best nurses and has highly, highly trained professionals and i believe having worked with caregivers for almost 20 years, representing providers in maryland, i think we have the

0:21:06 to 0:21:28( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: most compassionate caregivers you can find any place. we have wonderful, fine institutions. in my districtthe iversit of maryland medical center, johns hopkins health system. these are some of the finest institutions in the world, year after year being identified at

0:21:29 to 0:21:50( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: the top of their class. and we have amazing technology. every year the advances in technology make it easier for us to address some of the most persistent health care problems in our country. so that's on the one side of the equation. on on the other side, we have

0:21:51 to 0:22:11( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: the highest health care costs in the developed world. we have tremendous shortages of our caregivers, shortages of physicians, nurses and many other categories of those who provide care. we have millions of people, millions of people who have no

0:22:12 to 0:22:33( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: health insurance. and we argue over the number. some say it's 47 million, some say it's less, but we are talking about tens of millions of people who don't have health insurance coverage in this country. it means we have a problem. there are millions more who are underinsured. what does that mean?

0:22:34 to 0:22:54( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: it means they have health coverage, but they are one serious health crisis away from pitching over the edge in terms of tir families and themselves. and then those who do have coverage, adequate coverage, are paying premiums that go up by 15%, 20%, 25% a year.

0:22:55 to 0:23:16( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: we're all in it together. we all understand at some level that the current system is broken. this is our chance, this is our time. this is the moment to fix it and the american people have been asking for this for decades. so we have to take up the charge. we're not going to borrow anybody's model. we're not going to import a

0:23:17 to 0:23:38( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: model from england, canada or france. we're going to design our own american brand of health care and we're going to fix this system. we can do that. there are two parts of the discussion. there's the coverage discussion, how do we get to where everybody has decent access to care. i think we ought to pursue this public plan option, because it

0:23:39 to 0:24:00( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: will keep costs down and compete with the private insurance plans that had a strangelehold on the system. americans understand this. they moved past this. they know we need the public option, because it will create a more level playing field. and in the words of the president, it will keep the insurance companies honest. in addition to the coverage

0:24:01 to 0:24:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: issue is the delivery of care. and we have to look at investing in our workforce. and i have interviewsed legislation that attempts to do that, the health care workforce investment act of 2009, which would create a national workforce adsory board to do just this, look at this question of filling in the workforce. we've got to focus more on

0:24:24 to 0:24:45( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: primary and preventive care, so we can keep people healthy on the front end, instead of looking after them after they get sick on the back end. we need to change our system and move in that direction. and i like state-based health care. instead of expecting people to come to the health care system, let's take the health care

0:24:46 to 0:25:07( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: system to where people are already gathered. let's go to our schools, where 98% of the people between the ages of five and 15 can be found. let's go to senior centers and provide care to our seniors where they are gathering and let's go to workplaces and incentivize with tax incentives

0:25:08 to 0:25:28( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: to put clinics in place to serve working adults right there where they are in the workplace. these are all things we can do to improve the delivery system. let me just close with this. as this health care reform leaves the station, there are three things that need to be on that train so it's a train to somewhere and not a train to no

0:25:29 to 0:25:40( Edit History Discussion )

John Sarbanes: where. those three thingsr universal access to coverage and i think this public plan option is a wonderful way to go. second, investment in our workforce.