[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 97 (Friday, July 22, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


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

 
                 HEALTH CARE COVERAGE FOR ALL AMERICANS

  (Mr. STRICKLAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, in my southern Ohio district, there are 
over 100,000 men, women, and children who do not have health care 
insurance. For that reason, when I was elected to Congress, I made the 
decision that my wife and I would not accept the generous congressional 
health coverage until the people that I represent have access to 
affordable health care.
  We have gone out into the open market and purchased private 
insurance, for which we pay 100 percent of the cost.
  Mr. Speaker, I am not saying that other Members should do as I have 
done. But, I am saying that those Members who oppose universal coverage 
for all citizens, paid for in part by employers, should in the name of 
fairness give up their congressional health care benefits which exist, 
in part, as the result of employer contributions--contributions from 
the taxpayers of this country.
  Mr. Speaker, this is simply a matter of practicing what we preach. If 
affordable health care, partially paid for by employers, is something 
we would deny the ordinary American, then it ought not be available to 
Members of Congress. The average American citizen deserves what we've 
got.

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