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Medicare is expensive because we spend a lot on healthcare. We spend a lot on healthcare basically just because we want to, and doing so has been very good to a lot of people who work in healthcare fields.

Health care costs are an issue both for the government and for our larger economy.

Every country in the world is battling the rising cost of health care. No community anywhere has demonstrably lowered its health-care costs (not just slowed their rate of increase) by improving medical services. They've lowered costs only by cutting or rationing them.

What people are seeing is that the cost of their care and their insurance is going up faster since Obamacare has been passed than if the healthcare law had not been passed at all.

If you think health care is expensive now, just wait 'til it's free.

I know the exploding cost of health care is at the root of our long-term fiscal challenges.

As I travel around Idaho and visit with seniors, I hear almost universal concern about the rising cost of health care, particularly the cost of prescription drugs.

It's not health care reform to dump more money into Medicaid.

We need to be careful when we talk about cutting health care costs. They are not going to be reduced - what we really want to do is do is slow the rate of increase.

In many cases, an expansion of Medicaid will not only drive taxpayer costs but will deliver lower-quality care than what they have today.