WASHINGTON - Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns (NY-10) today released the following remarks in support of final passage of H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act:

Madame Speaker,

Today the House of Representatives is preparing to vote on historic health insurance reform legislation, H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act.  We have spent more than a year debating this important bill that will provide 32 million Americans with health insurance.  In my home district, New York’s 10th Congressional District, access to affordable health insurance will make a tremendous difference in the lives of men and women who have been burdened by the escalating costs of health care.  

We can no longer wait to stem the rising tide of the uninsured and underinsured, implement important reforms to prevent insurers from discriminating against persons with pre-existing conditions and enact important measures to rein in costs.

When this bill is signed into law, millions of Americans who do not have health care today will finally walk the pathway to coverage.  American families will no longer face bankruptcy when a loved one gets ill and seniors will finally get relief from the high cost of prescription drugs due to our expanded coverage under Medicare Part D.

Importantly, we are doing all of this without adding one penny to the federal deficit.  In fact, this bill will reduce our federal debt by $143 billion over the next ten years, and hundreds of billions more in the years thereafter.

Health insurance reform is an issue I have been committed to throughout my long congressional career.  We have been close to this day before, but this time, at long last, I am confident we will see this legislation signed into law.  

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