[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 8 (Thursday, February 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    AMERICA'S HEALTH CARE IN CRISIS

  Mr. REID. Thank you, Mr. President.
  This past Friday, I was honored to welcome and host First Lady 
Hillary Rodham Clinton at a health care forum for Nevada's health care 
professionals and providers in Las Vegas.
  The purpose of the forum was to educate providers about the 
President's bill and to address the specific concerns about health care 
reform. The First Lady in Las Vegas last Friday outlined the 
President's Health Security Act and the health care benefits that will 
be afforded all Americans under this plan.
  Most importantly, Mr. President, Mrs. Clinton devoted more than an 
hour to answering specific questions from the provider audience. The 
audience was made up of physicians, hospital administrators, State 
officials, rural health providers, nurses, representatives from our 
medical school, and Nevada's nursing schools.
  It was not necessary to include the general public in this forum or 
in these discussions because the citizens of Nevada know that there is 
a health care crisis in existence today. They live with it every day. 
It is an issue that affects the financial, emotional, and physical 
stability of Nevadans and every American.
  We thought it was important to have the health care providers share 
their questions and their concerns with the First Lady and help them 
understand how the American public and the people in Nevada feel about 
this crisis.
  We have all often described the health care crisis in statistical 
terms. There are upwards of 40 million Americans uninsured, many 
millions more that are underinsured. Every month, 2 million people lose 
their health coverage. Health care costs are approaching $900 billion a 
year. And this year, Mr. President, health care costs will go up over 
$100 billion.
  So the total health care costs of this country after this year will 
be near $1 trillion. Even though health care costs will go up over $100 
billion this year, our health care will not be any better. If health 
care costs are not brought under control, Americans will be spending $1 
out of every $5 they earn on health care in less than 7 years. That is 
by the year 2000.
  While these figures are alarming and say much about our current 
system, let us not forget that there are faces behind these statistics 
that I will enumerate and that we have heard talked about so often. 
People who can paint a picture for us of the crisis we are currently 
facing in health care more powerfully than any statistics we have seen 
or heard.
  President Clinton brought the plight of two of my constituents, 
Richard and Judy Anderson, of Reno, NV, to national attention in his 
State of the Union Address. In September 1989, Judy Anderson suffered a 
brain aneurysm. It was the second one that she had suffered. She was in 
intensive care thereafter for 21 days and had many more days of 
recovery. Richard, her husband, had recently lost his job and the 
family's health insurance. Before Judy was well the Andersons had a 
hospital bill for over $120,000 and thousands and thousands of more 
dollars in medical bills from doctors and other providers.
  Although Richard soon went back to work, the hospital bills, with the 
money that he made, were still insurmountable. High medical costs and a 
health insurance system that is broken eventually forced the Andersons 
into bankruptcy.
  No one sums up the health care crisis we are facing better than Mr. 
Anderson in his letter to Mrs. Clinton. ``Mrs. Clinton'', he said ``no 
one in the United States should have to lose everything they have 
worked for all their lives because they were unfortunate enough to 
become ill.''
  That says it all. But the Andersons are not alone, Mr. President. 
They are not the only citizens of my State who are feeling the pain of 
the health care crisis. They are not the only people in the United 
States that are suffering from the health care crisis.
  Before attending the health care forum, Mrs. Clinton had the 
opportunity to tour the University Medical Center, a county hospital 
located in Las Vegas. Almost 30 years ago, Mr. President, I was 
elected--it was my first elective job--to the county board of this 
hospital that she toured.
  On her tour of University Medical Center, the First Lady met with 
many Nevadans who know that there is a crisis. Mrs. Clinton shared with 
the providers attending the forum the compelling stories of three 
families she had met while at this hospital, UMC. I would like to share 
these stories with the American public and the Members of the Senate.
  Pamela Hinkley of Las Vegas has four children, is 8 months pregnant, 
and uninsured. To insure Pamela would drive up the cost of her family's 
insurance another $300 a month. A sum the family could not afford. 
Curtis and Pamela Hinkley, faced with the difficult circumstance of 
having to decide whether to insure their four children or Pamela, 
decided to insure their children. Now, 8 months pregnant, Pamela and 
her husband Curtis are faced with choosing between making the family 
house payment or providing Pamela with a $1,200 pain-blocking epidural 
for the delivery of her child. A tough choice for Pamela who delivers 
10 pound babies and received two epiduarls during her last delivery. 
Mr. Hinkley expressed regret and a sense of failure to Mrs. Clinton on 
his inability to provide insurance for his family. Mrs. Clinton 
responded quite accurately. It is not Mr. Hinkley who has failed. It is 
a system that has failed.
  Then, there is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bittman. Mr. Bittman is 
chronically ill and Mrs. Bittman suffers from serve diabetes. Two and a 
half year ago, Mrs. Bittman lost her job as a bookkeeper. Prior to 
losing her job, she and her husband had insurance through Mrs. 
Bittman's employer. For 3 years, Mrs. Bittman had to go without 
insurance and Mr. Bittman was forced to apply for county assistance to 
cover the cost of his medication. Although Mrs. Bittman is now covered 
by Medicare, this couple continues to suffer from the inequity and 
inadequacy of the current health care system.
  Finally, I would like to share the story of a Las Vegas carpenter. A 
man who was unable to provide health insurance for his family because 
his company only offers this benefit to upper management. This man and 
his wife recently had their second child. Desperate to provide his 
family with health security, this man approached his employer and asked 
for a cut in pay to quality his wife and children for Medicaid, the 
only access to medical care available for his wife and children. This 
is a family who has seen the American tradition of hard work and reward 
shattered. It no longer holds true that the harder you work, the more 
you have. In this case, the trade off was the opposite.
  Mr. President, I would submit to my colleagues the same challenge 
offered by President Clinton in his State of the Union address. For 
those who say there is no health care crisis, I would like them to tell 
that to the constituents whose stories I have shared with you today. 
Because, as the President cannot tell the Anderson's there is not a 
crisis, neither can I tell my constituents that there is no crisis. The 
facts are too glaring and the stories too painful to ignore any longer.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma is recognized.
  Mr. BOREN. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Boren and Mr. Domenici pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 1824 are located in today's Record under 
``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

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