[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 16, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                LETHAL INJECTION FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. FAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FAZIO. Mr. Speaker, over the past few months the health insurance 
industry has spent millions of dollars to convince the American public 
that we should be worried about efforts to reform health care.
  These slick Madison Avenue advertisements were brought to you 
courtesy of the Health Insurance Industry of America, a trade 
association for commercial health insurance companies.
  These companies have an obvious financial stake in the outcome of 
health care reform.
  What may not be obvious is the fact that the health insurance 
industry has bankrolled a $14 million ad campaign to kill health reform 
with your insurance premium money.
  These are the same companies that do not want to stop excluding 
treatment for pre-existing conditions, do not want to give up lifetime 
limits on benefits, and do not want to stop their skyrocketing 
premiums.
  And now you know why the HIAA has decided that rather than spending 
their money and your premiums on providing care for those who need it, 
they would spend millions of dollars to put ads on television to 
convince the American public that the current system of providing 
health care insurance is OK.
  Well, there are millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans who 
can tell you that the health care system is not OK.
  There is no doubt that health reform can be a confusing and 
complicated issue, without the help of an industry that stands to gain 
from killing it.
  We will be watching and monitoring the money spent by the HIAA on ad 
campaigns to kill health care reform. So keep in mind who is paying for 
the slick advertising--it just might be your very own health insurance 
premiums giving real health care reform a lethal injection.

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