[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 26, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H631]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HEALTH INSURANCE FOR CHILDREN

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, today the House Democratic leader, Dick 
Gephardt, and the Senate Democrat leader, Tom Daschle, are sending a 
letter to Republican leaders Gingrich and Lott calling on Republicans 
to move forward on expanding health care coverage for children. Many 
Democrats, including the President, have developed proposals to ensure 
all children have health insurance, but to date Republicans have 
offered no plan while outright refusing offers from the President and 
congressional Democrats to incorporate a children-only health insurance 
program into a bipartisan congressional agenda.
  Just yesterday, Mr. Speaker, the New York City public advocate, Mark 
Green, released a report on the growing number of uninsured citizens in 
New York. Among the report's many disturbing findings was that between 
1990 and 1995 the proportion of New York's children who have no medical 
insurance increased by 6 percent. As of 1995, nearly 20 percent of New 
York's children, 1 of every 5, did not have health insurance. And an 
equally troubling finding was that some 22 percent of uninsured 
citizens, many of which are parents, actually work for companies of 
more than a thousand people.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe the writing is on the wall: Those parents who 
work for large companies are finding it difficult, as are many, to 
adequately provide health insurance for their children.

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