[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 178 (Friday, November 10, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE WASTE OF THE UNINSURED

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                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 10, 1995

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, Republicans are crowing today that they have 
discovered that the failed Clinton health care plan cost $14 million to 
develop.
  Yes, that was a waste. It should have been done differently, in the 
open, and with more congressional consultation.
  Some $14 million, Mr. Speaker. That's about the cost of care for 14 
very premature babies that could have been prevented if people had 
health insurance. That's about the cost of 28 cancer cases that could 
have been detected earlier if people had health insurance.
  Yesterday, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation estimated that the 
Republican Medicaid cuts would increase the number of uninsured by 50 
percent. We already have 40 million uninsured. With their cuts it will 
rise to 68 million.
  There is the true waste, Mr. Speaker. People will die; families will 
be destroyed; children will suffer because of the budget actions of the 
Republican majority. Some $14 million was wasted--and it will be 
nothing, nothing, compared to the waste and death and pain that their 
budget bill will impose on the Nation.

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