[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 104 (Tuesday, August 2, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    DIABETES AND HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
February 11, 1994, and June 10, 1994, the gentleman from North Carolina 
[Mr. Price] is recognized during morning business for 2 minutes.
  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, more than 13 million people 
in the United States have diabetes. Every 60 seconds at least 1 person 
is diagnosed with this disease. This year more than 160,000 of our 
fellow citizens will die from it. It is a chronic disease and has no 
cure.
  The severity of diabetes and the toll it takes on its sufferers has 
become a familiar story to all too many Americans. During this health 
care reform debate, the threat of diabetes has revealed itself in 
another devastating way. Four months ago I met with three attractive, 
energetic college students from my district who happen to have diabetes 
and who came to the Nation's Capital to talk about health care reform.
  Now, these young people had some of the usual nervousness about 
contemplating life on their own after graduating from college, but 
their nervousness had a particular edge to it because they knew they 
were going to be removed from their parents' health insurance policies 
and that they might have a great deal of difficulty finding coverage.
  How are they going to secure the medical equipment, medicines, and 
treatment that they need to live independently and to deal with 
diabetes-related complications? Will they be able to even get coverage? 
If they find a plan that will cover them, can they come even close to 
affording it? I wish I had better answers for those young people. How 
do I tell them that their nightmares are well-founded, that they will 
likely encounter what far too many Americans have encountered: 
Inability to secure coverage because of preexisting conditions? 
Whatever else we do, Mr. Speaker, on health care reform, we have got to 
make this threat a thing of the past.
  Mr. Speaker, we know what the worst complications of diabetes can be: 
Blindness, heart disease, kidney disease, neuropathy, amputations. We 
have made some progress in mitigating and preventing these 
complications, but as I can testify from my own family's experience, we 
are not there yet. We are not there yet by a long shot.
  We have had some encouraging studies. A 9-year NIH-funded study, for 
example, found that normalizing blood glucose levels among diabetic 
individuals could prevent complications by 60 to 70 percent. This 
medical research has great promise; modest investments can yield big 
dividends in saved lives, improved care, at reduced costs.
   As we bring the health care reform debate to the House floor, we 
need to carry on our deliberations with an awareness of their human 
dimension. What we do does matter to millions of Americans who, like 
those students who came to my office, struggle with diseases like 
diabetes, attempting to control their illness, avoid devastating 
medical costs, live normal productive lives. These are the people we 
must remember as we debate health care reform and medical research 
funding. I implore my colleagues to rise to that challenge.

                          ____________________