[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 100 (Wednesday, July 27, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 27, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            PRIVATE GUARANTEED HEALTH INSURANCE FOR EVERYONE

  (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, last week, the Catholic Health Association 
released a comprehensive study of the major health care reform plans. 
The study confirms what Democrats have been saying all along--that 
unless we guarantee private health insurance for all, the middle class 
will wind up bearing the brunt of rising health care costs.
  No matter what happens in Congress, we know this: the very poor and 
the very wealthy will be able to get health care. It is middle-income 
Americans who are at risk. And, it is their interests that we must keep 
in mind.
  Health insurance reform alone will not work. That's what the 
opponents want. In fact, the Catholic Health Association study points 
out that if we make it harder to exclude people from insurance, only 
sick people who need expensive care will have insurance and working 
families will see their premiums go through the roof.
  We have an opportunity to reach out to working families and enact 
real health care reform--not a cheap imitation, not halfway 
legislation, not soft-boiled initiatives.
  Reform must begin and end with private guaranteed health insurance 
for everyone. It is not a line in the sand. It is the sand--the very 
foundation of real health care reform. Minimal political reform fails 
working families, fails small businesses, fails America.

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