Chellie Pingree Quotes

The small businesses that I've talked to have consistently said that the cost of health care is one of the things that they need the most help with.

General Motors spends more on health care than steel.

A public option is essential to creating the cost-savings necessary to offset the cost of providing all Americans access to affordable health care.

Medical costs are of concern, both in developing and developed countries.

It is time that we take control and find a way to curtail the explosive costs of health care. Small businesses deserve a chance to channel these funds toward other needs, such as expanding and creating more jobs for the economy.

There's no way we're going to have low cost health insurance in a world of high cost medicine.

The majority of Americans receive health insurance coverage through their employers, but with rising health care costs, many small businesses can no longer afford to provide coverage for their employees.

We really do have to get at the underlying question of health-care costs.

Health care comprises nearly 20 percent of our national economy, but outdated bureaucracy and red tape have stifled competition and raised costs. As a result, today more than 45 million are without any health coverage.

Soaring prescription drug costs have placed a tremendous strain on family budgets. They have also imposed a heavy burden on employers - both public and private - who are struggling to provide affordable health insurance coverage to their workers.

Access to quality, affordable health care is particularly important here in Maine, where many of us own small businesses or are self-employed.

Since the 1960s, there has been a tremendous expansion of the resources available to pay for health care.

Doctors no longer charge patients, patients no longer pay doctors, and neither determines what is medically necessary.

They call it managed care but it really is only managed costs.

We don't have a free market in health care. We need to connect customers up with the cost of care. And to drive innovation that way.

As a member of Congress, I participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program under the same rules as millions of other federal employees.

Obamacare does not allow patients to buy insurance across state lines, which would dramatically increase competition and lower costs. It does not allow small business-associated health plans. It limits low-cost health savings accounts options.

Growing our economy means supporting our small businesses, and one straightforward way to do this is to help business owners with the cost of health insurance for their workers.

It's widely recognized that employers and employees need more assistance addressing problems with rising health care costs. Attempts to address the problem are going to require a federal response, not a patchwork of state and local mandates.

Each State has its own health insurance mandates, and some of them are good, but there are about 1,800 of them all across the Nation, including provisions for acupuncturists, massage therapists, and hair replacements.

Medical costs are soaring because our health-care system is totally screwed up. Doctors and hospitals have every incentive to spend on unnecessary tests, drugs, and procedures.

If we do nothing, as the Republicans suggest, we're going to see health care costs reach a point where small businesses can't afford it and families can't afford it. We're going to see people turned down from pre-existing conditions. We're going to find the Medicare doughnut hole - a gap in coverage that's going to hurt a lot of seniors.

Health insurance should be a given for every citizen.

Healthcare is very much a high priority for me. Healthcare is also a huge issue for business, both big and small.

There are, in human affairs, two kinds of problems: those which are amenable to a technical solution and those which are not. Universal health-care coverage belongs to the first category: you can pick one of several possible solutions, pass a bill, and (allowing for some tinkering around the edges) it will happen.