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Of course, plenty of people don't think that guaranteeing affordable health insurance is a core responsibility of government.

A truly moral health care system should start out by covering all of its citizens with basic health care. It would not be seduced by its technology and fancy buildings.

Health insurance should be a given for every citizen.

We need to reform the health code so that people are incentivized to buy their own health insurance rather than have to get it through an employer.

Let's drive the message home: we need health insurance reform, we need a strong public option, and we won't settle for less.

And in terms of their crown jewel legislative achievement: who knew that when asked, 'will government impose a new federal mandate requiring middle class Americans to buy health insurance whether they can afford it or not?' The answer would be 'Yes we can!'

I've laid down my set of principles, so I will not force government-run health care on anyone.

I believe we can incentivize more affordable health care in general by better regulating insurance and creating meaningful competition for health care services.

If you look upon chronic diseases as an epidemic, and you see that the chronically ill are the poor, then you see that this issue of the uninsured is not really a moral but a financial obligation to change health care.

When I came to Congress, like our first panel, small business people, 64 percent of the people had health insurance. We'd buy it. Now, we're down to about 34 percent. That's why we have to do something on health care in this country because the cost is killing us.