[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]

 
                             NO FREE LUNCH

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as we get closer to a vote on 
health care reform we are hearing that the issue of cost sharing 
between employers and employees is dead. There are those who would 
require an individual to buy insurance and pay the full cost rather 
than to risk upsetting special interests who do not want to cover their 
employees. What we are really talking about is fairness in who pays the 
cost of health care insurance. Both employers and employees have a 
stake in a healthy work force; therefore, the costs and benefits should 
be shared.
  The fact is that most people who have insurance get that insurance 
through their employer. This is not a new situation and this resulted 
from the free market determining how benefits would be distributed.
  Many of you know that large businesses generally support the idea of 
providing coverage to all employees since most large companies already 
provide these benefits. However, you may have also heard that this 
proposal would kill small business. In the district I represent, a 
small businessowner named Bobby Schlitzberger provides insurance to his 
10 employees today without a Government mandate. However, he realizes 
that unless his competition does the same, he is put at a competitive 
disadvantage.
  This small businessman, who also happens to be a member of the 
National Federation of Independent Business, seems to already have 
gotten the message that many Members of this body have not. We need to 
provide health coverage to all employees so that all of our businesses 
can stay competitive.
  As Bobby Schlitzberger stated, ``There ain't no free lunch.''
  It's time for this Congress to pass health care reform. This is the 
last great social policy debate of this century. When our kids and 
grandkids look back, will we have set the stage for a stable economic 
future or will we have taken the course of least resistance and 
continued business as usual.

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