DPCC Chair Cicilline: Democrats Will Drive Down Health Care Costs
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on The Story With Martha MacCallum on FOX News to discuss Democrats' For the People Agenda: lowering health care costs, increasing pay, and cleaning up corruption in Washington. Below are excerpts from the interview . Clickhere to watch the video
"We just won a midterm election, and the House Democrats really ran on three issues. One of them was driving down health care costs, particularly the cost of prescription drugs. I think we have a number of new Members that have a lot of ideas about the ways we can expand health care and drive down cost for folks. There are a lot of different approaches for this, but Democrats are united in a commitment to ensuring that no longer does any American family lay awake at night worrying whether they will have some medical emergency that will bankrupt them or have a child get sick and unable to see a doctor. So there are a lot of different ideas about how to do it, but we are committed to making sure more Americans are covered and costs are reduced."
"Well, I don't take the position that you need to eliminate private insurance. I think you can expand Medicare, provide Medicare for everyone, and still have a private insurance market."
"We live in…the richest country in the world, there is no reason that everyone shouldn't have access to quality, affordable health care. If you eliminate the administrative costs and the profits to insurance companies over time, I think you can drive the costs down – you can drive down the cost of prescription drugs."
"I am not suggesting that you would need to eliminate private insurance. What I think what we have to do is have a serious debate, build consensus. What is the best way to move forward? The Affordable Care Act made certain that 20 million more Americans have access to health care. That is important. We need to build on the success of the Affordable Care Act – there are a lot of different ways to do it. We need to have a real debate. This is the richest, most powerful country in the world, we ought to be able to provide health care for every American."
"We want to make sure people have access to high-quality affordable health care. People should not have to go bankrupt and worry at night that a sick child cannot see a doctor. We are better than that."
"It is unacceptable that 28 million people are uninsured. We need to fix this problem, but I think we have made tremendous progress but we need to build upon that, look at the best ideas, build consensus, and move forward."
"I guess it was pretty bad. I think, look, if anyone thinks that after the last two years of the Trump Presidency and the midterm elections that the American people are searching for another billionaire businessman with no government experienced around the country, I think they are sadly mistaken."
"It doesn't surprise me at all. I think Democratic voters and most voters want Congress and of those in elected office to get things done, so saying be more moderate, meaning compromise, doesn't surprise me. But, we ran a midterm election that focused on driving down health care costs, driving down the cost of prescription drugs, raising family incomes, rebuilding the infrastructure of our country, and taking on the serious corruption in Washington. Some people would say that is moderate, I think those are important issues, and I think that is where Democrats are."