[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 109 (Tuesday, August 9, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
         HEALTH CARE SHOULD BE A BIRTHRIGHT IN OUR GREAT NATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barlow). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of February 11, 1994, and June 10, 1994, the gentleman from 
Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson] is recognized during morning business for 5 
minutes.
  (Mr. GEJDENSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, as we reach these final days before the 
August recess, a plea to the American people to take stock in what we 
are doing here.
  There is a debate often obfuscated by rhetoric, I am sure, on both 
sides, but the choice comes down to a pretty simple choice. On one side 
the President and those of us who support universal coverage in the 
House in particular want a bill that would mandate that every American 
be covered by health care, that whether one loses their job, whether 
one changes jobs, whether one goes off to start their own business, 
whether one is a child covered under their parents' plan and then goes 
off on their own, that they could not be denied health care, that it 
would be health care at a reasonable cost and that it would cover all 
Americans. Our plan is jobs based because most Americans get their 
health care where they work.
  There has been an effort by those who benefit from the present system 
and many on the other side of the aisle who do not believe the 
Government has a role in guaranteeing health care to try to confuse the 
debate. Television and radio show hosts who talk about criminal 
penalties for private payment to doctors reflect nothing that exists in 
the legislation, but it was used to create confusion and concern about 
the health care legislation that is before us. The reality is that 
without the President's efforts and without the majority leader on this 
side and in the Senate we would not have health care before us. The 
majority of the Republicans felt the present system was good enough. 
Indeed at the beginning of the debate they tried to say there was no 
health care crisis, to say that Congress should not act on health care. 
The American people rejected their real position. Now many of them have 
come back with modified positions which really obfuscate their basic 
belief, which is the Government should not get involved, and there 
tract record is pretty certain on this one.
  Most of the leaders of the other party who are in Congress today 
frankly opposed the Medicare provisions. The gentleman from Illinois, 
Mr. Michel, and Mr. Dole both voted against Medicare, and, while there 
is greatly railing against Government involvement, there are very few 
in this country who believe that, if this Congress had not passed 
Medicare some 30 years ago or more, that senior citizens would not be 
in worse condition today than they are, that Medicare was one of the 
things that is guaranteed for our parents and our grandparents, a level 
of care that no other group of Americans can be certain of, care that 
they cannot lose and care that is not based on their own personal 
medical conditions. That is what we are trying to guarantee for working 
Americans, and I think, if we lose this opportunity after 60 years of 
struggle, it would not be the Democratic Party, or the Democratic 
President, or the Democratic majority leader who feels the pain. It 
will be the hundreds of thousands of workers who lose their jobs and 
lose their health care. It will be young people who are trying to start 
a new life who are not able to afford health care.
  Mr. Speaker, in my district just this weekend I was told of a family 
who had lost their jobs. The mother was ill. The premiums are not 
$1,000 a year to buy health care that is being offered to them. The 
premiums are $8,000 a quarter. People who have worked hard and pay 
taxes all their lives, if we do not act on health care in this 
Congress, those are the people we leave behind. The very wealthy will 
take care of themselves. Those that are so poor that they have no 
assets and no means will be covered by Medicaid. The people that we are 
abandoning, if we fail to act on health care, are working men and women 
who have fought for this country and paid the taxes to run the programs 
that have made this the greatest Nation on the face of this Earth.

  There are complications with Government action. There is no doubt 
that some individuals today would have paid less taxes and had a few 
more dollars in the bank if we did not have Medicare for our senior 
citizens, but show me any evidence that the average senior citizen in 
this country would be better off if we had followed the leadership of 
the gentleman from Kansas and the gentleman from Illinois on the other 
side of the aisle. Had we listened to them, there would be no Medicare. 
Had we listened to those who came before them, there would be no Social 
Security, and we are at one of those crossroads today.
  We need a handful of votes in the other body to move forward to 
guarantee that every citizen in this country, as a birthright, is 
covered by health care, that they do not have to worry about losing 
their homes or having their children drop out of school because of 
illness in the family. It is the least that we can do, and, if the 
American people care about their future, it is time for them to call in 
to their Senators and Congressmen and ask for support for universal 
coverage.
  The plan that we have before the House is a good one. Most decent 
employers provide health care coverage today. The honest working people 
are subsidizing those who do not care for their employees.

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