Senate Proceeding on Jun 3rd, 2009 :: 7:45:45 to 7:56:00
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7:45:40 to 7:45:45( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Byrd: waited 20 days in europe for care and 62 days in canada.

7:45:45 to 7:56:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Robert Bennett

7:45:46 to 7:46:06( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: we hearbout benefits of being this canada. i have constituents who come from canada, have moved to utah. every time this comes up they come to me and say, "senator, whatever you do, the canadian system. whatever you do, make sure

7:46:07 to 7:46:27( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: america doesn't go in the direction the canadians have gone." let me give some example to demonstrate why that is good advice. this one that broke out in the debate in the canadian parliament, a woman by the name of emily 2006 was informed by her doctor

7:46:28 to 7:46:50( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: that her cancer had spread and she needed to see an oncologist and she be able to get an appointment for months." well, if my cancer is spreading, i don't want to wait months for an appointment. her family raised a ruckus, they called the local newspaper, a

7:46:51 to 7:47:12( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: petion was signed by her neighbors to demand she get care and in response to that, the government got her to a specialist. once again, in the government you respond to the voters, you are getting bad publicity in the prets, the vote voter -- press, the

7:47:13 to 7:47:33( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: voters g doctor said she only had three she had time to get her affairs in order. had she not had the intervention of families and neighbors it is quite likely she who is died before seeing an oncologist for the first time.

7:47:34 to 7:47:54( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: but let's go to another example that may be closer to home to the legislators. a member of parliament in canada, supports the canadian health care system and she would object to this kind of argument that the canadian health care system isn't very good.

7:47:55 to 7:48:15( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: but where did she goan we she was diagnosed -- she go within she was diagnosed with cancer in 20 ten? she went to california and paid for the treatment out-of-pocket. even a member of parliament who supports the canadian system recognized the government map didn't wor -- plan didn't work for her and she came to america with

7:48:16 to 7:48:38( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: her health at risk and took advantage of what we offer here. there's the mother who was expected quad driew druple testimonies. i am the father of that came as a great surprise

7:48:39 to 7:49:00( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: and i am not sure we handle gawd she is in canada and she has flown to great falls, montana, to deliver the triplets. great falls, montana, is not thought of as a great center of

7:49:01 to 7:49:22( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: health care excellence in the united states yet the facilities in this small town in montana were better than any facility available anywhere in alberta. this is the example -- these are the examples of how a government-run plan, because people who are paying the money don't, who are getting the

7:49:23 to 7:49:44( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: service don't control the money, can end up focusing on overall cost control to the detriment of the people who are trying to access it. i don't think ultimately the american voters having gotten use to the access they currently have, being used to the idea

7:49:45 to 7:50:05( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: they do not have to wait, would ultimately tolerate a government plan. my consult to president obama and to my colleagues here in the senate is, slow down a little. we're talking about

7:50:06 to 7:50:26( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: restructuring 18% of the entire economy. we spend health care. i agree it is lon addresshe issue, we rationalize the challenge a did things that made it far more effective. as i have spent the three-some years working with senator wyden to try to

7:50:27 to 7:50:48( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: understand the problem and fashion the healthy americans act in a way that will solve the problem, i have discovered a great truth that i didn't realize before: that is, the greatest cost control factor in health care is quality. the best health care is the cheapest health care.

7:50:49 to 7:51:09( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: and it has been achieved in thosplaces that have focused on quality first and the patient first. and it has not government dartmouth has done a study and

7:51:10 to 7:51:31( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: said the three cities with the best health care: they are seattle, washington; rochester, minnesota; salt lake city, utah. they say if every person got his or her health care in salt lake city, utah, it would not only be the best in the united states it

7:51:32 to 7:51:53( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: would be one-third cheaper than the national average. now those are the kinds of examples we should be focusing on and learning from and then doing our best to write legislat slow down. we're not going to understand

7:51:54 to 7:52:15( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: this in time for any artificial deadline set for some political agenda. i understand the sense of administration feels on this issue. an the time to address it. this is the congress in which we should pass it. but i don't think setting a

7:52:16 to 7:52:36( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: deadline to say it must be done in june when we're talking about 18% of g.d.p. is that persuasive. we can alternatives a little more carefully. more carefully than the president deadlines allows us. we can say, all right, why is

7:52:37 to 7:52:59( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: quality the best cost control? and does our bill really create the kinds of incentives and awards focused on quality that will produce instead of saying, whatever else you do, you have to have a government option in there, you have to have a government plan that can compete with all of the

7:53:00 to 7:53:21( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: rest of to the situation where we move a nation to imitate great britain, canada, or people who have the kinds of examples i have talked about here. so i am more than willing, i am anxious, to work with president obama and his administration and to work with my friends across the iem.

7:53:22 to 7:53:42( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: i have worked with senator wyden for these past three-plus years to try to fashion an intelligent solution to this. but i repeat what i said at the beginning: the stickin point in this entire debate is the demand on the part of the obama administration that the final

7:53:43 to 7:54:04( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: product have within it a government plan as options. and if that happens, i vote against my own bill. if that happens, i do everything i can to say, "no." because i'm convinced if that happens, we end up with a situation where there is only

7:54:05 to 7:54:26( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: one option that survives. one of my colleagues has described this, i think, quite william. he says having a government plan as one of the options is a little like taking an into a room full of mice and then saying, "all right, this is

7:54:27 to 7:54:48( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: a room full of animals, let's let them compete and as the elephant walks around the world, pretty soon there aren't any mice left." a government plan is the elephant in the room. those of us who want t this problem intelligently say, let's learn from the examples of

7:54:49 to 7:55:11( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: those people who have adopted a sing-payer system. let's realize that the american experiment in health care produces better outcomes in all of the areas i have as politicians, that the american voter will never stand for the kind of rationing by delay that seems to have cent

7:55:12 to 7:55:32( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: into every other -- to have cent into every other system. let's take our time to do it right. there is a barn batc is a bipartisan consensus to get it done. we can do it together and make that accomplishment if we just not be so insistent that the government plan is ultimately

7:55:33 to 7:55:46( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: the only way to go. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.