[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 80 (Wednesday, June 22, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1010
 
          GUARANTEE PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE TO ALL AMERICANS

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, President Clinton threw down the 
gauntlet on health care reform when he reiterated his promise to veto 
any legislation that does not include universal coverage. All of us 
here in this body need to likewise rededicate ourselves to this fight. 
Let us not lose sight of the reasons we took this issue on in the first 
place.
  We need to reform the health care system because some 58 million 
Americans lack health insurance for at least 1 month a year. We need to 
reform the health care system because 133 million Americans have 
lifetime limits on health coverage. We need to reform the health care 
system because 81 million Americans have preexisting conditions.
  Health care reform legislation did not materialize out of thin air. 
It came as a result of our country's health care crisis. A health care 
crisis that has made victims of people all across the country. Real 
people, with real stories. People like Ellen of East Haven, CT.
  Ellen has a preexisting condition and cannot get health care 
coverage. She writes to me: ``I am now just 30 years old and fear with 
the present state of our health care system, my husband and I will be 
paupers by the time I am 40.''
  Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues, as we walk the final, arduous 
mile of our health reform journey, let us not lose sight of where we 
are going and why. We must pass a health care reform bill that 
guarantees private insurance to every single American.

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