[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 92 (Friday, June 25, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FAIR CARE FOR THE UNINSURED ACT

  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, this morning I am introducing the Fair Care 
for the Uninsured Act. This bill would create a new refundable tax 
credit for the purchase of private health insurance. The credit would 
be $1,000 per adult, $3,000 per family. No mandates, no bureaucracy. 
Your choice of plans, your choice of doctors.
  Who is this bill for? Mr. Speaker, it is for the 44 million Americans 
who today lack health insurance. Their ranks are growing by 100,000 
people a month. A decade from now, there could be 53 million, or 60 
million if the economy softens.
  Who are these people without insurance? They are the working poor, 
low-wage workers, people between jobs, the self-employed, cleaning 
ladies, African Americans, and Hispanics.
  In California, Mr. Speaker, nearly 40 percent of the Hispanics are 
uninsured. Forty percent. And why is it they cannot afford insurance 
coverage? Because the tax code punishes you when you buy your own 
insurance outside the workplace. If your employer cannot afford a plan, 
you are out of luck. If your job is not full time, you are out of luck. 
That is not fair, and it is not necessary.
  If the high-paid CEO is going to receive a big tax break for health 
care, then should the cleaning lady not that makes minimum wage?
  Mr. Speaker, nowadays Democrats seem more eager to pile new mandates 
onto health care insurance than to help people who do not have any, but 
the truth is access to affordable health coverage is the first patient 
protection.

                              {time}  0915

  So let us protect patients by helping those 44 million get good 
health insurance.

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