[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 8, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1100
 
           CLINTON HEALTH CARE PLAN: TRUE UNIVERSAL COVERAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Margolies-Mezvinsky). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of February 11, 1994, the gentleman from 
Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson] is recognized during morning business for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Madam Speaker, I watched this institution debate a 
number of issues in the years that I have been here, but never before 
have I seen such an incredible amount of money coming from special 
interest groups trying to defeat a piece of legislation. And in that 
way, health care is different from the battles we had in the past on 
civil rights or Social Security, even different from the battle we had 
in getting Medicare for our senior citizens.
  Madam Speaker, Tip O'Neill used to talk about, when he came to this 
Congress, over half the senior citizens in this country lived in 
poverty; they were without medical coverage; they were the pity of the 
country.
  We took action in this Congress in previous decades, first with 
Social Security and then with Medicare, and we made progress that now 
the entire country recognizes has made this a better place for our 
senior citizens to live.
  Most of the people who oppose the President's plan today come from 
the political party that opposed social security and opposed Medicare 
as well. They made dire predictions about what would happen to America 
if we passed Social Security and Medicare. They were wrong them; they 
are wrong today.
  We are losing choice today as Americans; if you have a child with 
juvenile diabetes, you have no choice, you cannot get coverage for that 
child as it reaches maturity. If you have to change jobs in this ever-
evolving economy, where more and more of our citizens change their jobs 
on a regular basis, not returning to their old jobs, not having the 
resources to continue insurance on their own, you have no choice 
because you cannot get your family covered.
  It seems to me there are wealthy special interests that want to stop 
the Congress and the American people from addressing the very 
fundamental issues in health care that we as a nation have to address. 
We need to make sure when that family with a child with juvenile 
diabetes or borne in a wheelchair because of multiple handicaps, that 
family can have health care. We can do that in this Congress if the 
American people will only speak out.
  For all the money and all the special interests on the other side, 
the voice of the American people is stronger. They ought not to be 
confused by people who are more concerned with their own personal 
profits than with the health of this Nation or the health of our 
children and our families.
  It is easy to stand on this floor and talk about family values, but 
what is stronger in helping a family than helping the family to keep 
its health care and hold itself together?
  When I was a State representative, the first cruel thing I saw as a 
result of our present health care system was a mother told to go back 
to welfare because the new job she had finally gotten could not cover 
her child with a preexisting illness. As a Member of Congress, one of 
the first tragedies we faced was a family that first lost their jobs 
and then lost their father because of a traumatic brain injury and then 
lost their home because they had no health care coverage. This country 
can do better.
  We can sit down and be rolled by the people with money, by those who 
want to profit off of the present system, or we can join together as a 
country and make sure that we cover all of our families and all of our 
children.
  Small business in America, for the vast majority, provide health care 
for employees. But the competitive edge goes to the one side or the 
other of them; companies that are smaller that often provide no health 
care coverage end up living in the system by having their employees 
covered by our premiums. We pay higher premiums because of this some 
millions of people who are presently not covered when they end up in 
the hospital or getting health care benefits.
  That medium- and small-size company today that provides health care 
also has another competition that has an advantage: the large company 
with thousands of employees which buys the very same coverage for a lot 
less money.
  My fellow Americans, we are at a point in this country's history 
where we can take a step forward with a health care plan that will 
guarantee coverage for every American, coverage they cannot lose and 
coverage that keeps their choice.
  But if we fail to act as a Congress and as a country, if we let those 
special interests who think profit is more important than the economic 
health and the physical health of this country, we have but ourselves 
as citizens to blame.
  I would ask every citizen watching this House, this office, watching 
this House operate, this President fighting for health care reform, to 
write to their elected officials, to speak out and demand that we take 
action this year.
  Call the plan what you like but it seems to me unless it had the 
fundamentals that mandate coverage for every American, that mandates 
coverage that you cannot lose when you lose your job, that mandates 
coverage that you can keep the coverage even when you change jobs, if 
we do not do that, we are not getting the job done.
  We can do that with the help of my colleagues in this Chamber if they 
hear from their constituents.
  Do not be frightened by rhetoric from those who benefit from the 
present system.
  Every other civilized Western country is able to provide universal 
coverage, and we ought to be able to do it here as well if we band 
together and fight for what is right for the American people.

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