[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H1418-H1419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     AMERICA'S HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY FAILS INDIVIDUALS 55 TO 64

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I would just like to mention, in 
response to the comments of my friend, the gentleman from Michigan, 
that we could take care of these problems of what he calls intrusive 
government in the Census by allowing sampling, which is what many 
people on this side of the aisle have suggested, Census sampling, where 
we find out by taking some 10,000 or 20,000 or 50,000 or whatever 
number of people and find this information out and extrapolate it to 
the rest of the country, which every company and every government 
agency and every political candidate has done for years in terms of 
polling and all of that.
  Madam Speaker, our health insurance system fails many Americans, no 
group more so than individuals age 55 to 64. There are 3.4 million 
Americans in this age range who are uninsured, the fastest growing 
segment of the uninsured population. Some of them were blind-sided when 
their employer terminated retiree health coverage. Others are self-
employed or work for firms that do not offer health insurance.
  Regardless of the reason behind their situation, the prospects of 
buying individual insurance in the individual market are grim. Only 
individuals enrolling directly from an employer-sponsored health plan 
are guaranteed access to private coverage. Companies can and do deny 
access to self-employed individuals and those whose employer does not 
offer coverage.
  Even if an individual is lucky enough to be guaranteed access to a 
health plan, she is not guaranteed an affordable rate. As a matter of 
fact, she can bank on being quoted a rate so high it takes her breath 
away.
  The purpose of health insurance is to pool risk, not to avoid it. The 
fact that individuals nearing retirement are priced out of the 
insurance market underscores how far our system has strayed from that 
basic tenet. Individuals 55 to 64 have entered a period in their lives 
when health insurance is particularly important, yet 3 million of them 
cannot secure coverage in the private health insurance market.
  If this problem sounds familiar, there is a reason. Before Medicare, 
60 percent of Americans 65 and older were uninsured. The public 
demanded that the Federal government step in when it became clear that 
insurers would not willingly cover these individuals.
  Our challenge now is to help individuals 55 to 64. As long as health 
insurers can pick and choose those whom to enroll and whom to exclude, 
as long as they are permitted to use medical underwriting, rate 
increases, and skillful marketing to cream-skim, to weed out those they 
do not want to insure, as long as insurers can avoid those most in need 
of health care protection, there will always be significant gaps in our 
health insurance system.

                              {time}  1300

  It is one of realities this Nation faces in the absence of universal 
coverage. Eventually, the public will get tired of weak-kneed 
politicians and incremental strategies and the U.S. will implement that 
universal medical coverage. Until then, it makes sense to expand 
programs that work and to help those in most need of coverage.
  That is where the Medicare Early Access program comes in. This week 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Stark), the gentlewoman from Florida 
(Mrs. Thurman) and I will introduce revised legislation based on last 
year's

[[Page H1419]]

 Early Access bill. The new version provides tax credits to help more 
individuals 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare or to purchase COBRA 
continuation coverage.
  The mechanisms for providing more individuals age 55 to 64 coverage 
has not changed. Our bill would enable people 62 to 64 and displaced 
workers 55 to 64 to pay premiums to buy into Medicare. It would require 
employers who drop previously promised retiree coverage to allow early 
retirees with limited alternatives to have access to COBRA continuation 
coverage until they reach age 65 and, thereby, qualify for Medicare.
  To make these initiatives more affordable, this legislation would 
establish tax credits equal to 25 percent of the premium for 
participants in the Medicare buy-in and individuals eligible for COBRA 
coverage. Our legislation provides uninsured individuals between 55 and 
64 an opportunity to buy into Medicare since the private market surely 
has failed them. And it restores some measure of fairness to 
individuals who have paid for employer-sponsored retiree coverage 
paycheck after paycheck only to have it terminated when they actually 
need it.
  Some individuals perceive of Medicare expansion as a backdoor means 
of establishing universal coverage. Expanding Medicare is not a 
backdoor means of moving towards universal coverage. I would say we are 
using the front door. Medicare works. We need universal coverage, and 
if expanding Medicare will help us put an end to the inefficient, gap-
ridden patchwork of private and public health plans we are living in 
now, then I am all for it.
  The United States needs universal health coverage. Nothing short of 
that can assure security, fairness, or economic efficiency. We need a 
system that does not discriminate against the very individuals that it 
is supposed to protect. Until we get there, it makes sense to take this 
step.

                          ____________________