[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 27 (Thursday, March 4, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H853-H854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Blackburn). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I want to reassure my colleague from 
Massachusetts that there is hope after all. The Bush administration has 
endorsed and even funded universal health insurance. The thing is, the 
President's universal health insurance program is for the people of 
Iraq, not anything for the 44 million Americans.
  Madam Speaker, we already pay enough for universal health care in 
this country, but we are not getting it. The administration misleads 
the American people by having the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services say, and I quote, ``You are still taken care of in America. 
That certainly could be defined as universal coverage.'' The truth is 
that every other industrialized nation in the world has a universal 
health system except the United States. Half the bankruptcies in this 
country are due to health care costs.
  The United States spent $1.6 trillion on health care in 2003. That is 
an average of $4,900 per person for the entire country. The average of 
the next 29 industrialized countries is less than half that amount, 
about $2,100 per person. Switzerland, at number two, spends $3,106. 
That is $1,800 less per year per person than the United States. Every 
one of these countries has universal health insurance except us.
  We have 44 million uninsured and 40 million underinsured, and 
premiums are going up. At the same time, employers are shifting more of 
their health care costs on to their employees. Every strike has as the 
number one issue of contention their health care benefits. They just 
settled a grocery strike in California that has been going on for 6 
months and it was all about that.
  Seventy-two percent of the uninsured are in families where there is a 
full-time worker. Sixteen percent have two full-time workers. Only 62 
percent of all employers even offer health insurance, and only 60 
percent of employees can take advantage of it. How bad does it have to 
get before we begin to do what is necessary?
  Not many years ago opponents and an army of lobbyists turned back the 
last great hope for real reform. We were told managed care in the 
marketplace would save the health care system. It never happened. All 
through the 1990s when the economy was hot, the number of Americans 
without health insurance went up. When the economy tanked under 
President Bush, the number of Americans without health care kept going 
down. How bad does it have to get?
  A long time ago we made some decisions in this country: Police, fire 
protection, national defense, education, and highways would be issues 
of the common good. We would do them together. It is time for health 
care to be done as a common good. We have the power and ability to take 
care of everyone, from patient to physician to provider.
  National health care does not mean government medicine.

                              {time}  1430

  It means a guaranteed revenue stream to give a stable set of benefits 
for everyone that cannot be taken away.
  At the present time, government at all levels already finances 60 
percent of all the health care spending in this country. That is over 
$2,600 per person. Remember, the international average is $2,100 per 
person so we are already spending enough. If we were tight-fisted, we 
could have that kind of a system.

[[Page H854]]

  The fact is that we simply do not have the political will to 
establish the common good. If our costs were in line with other 
industrialized nations who have a national health care system, 
government spending in this country alone would cover our costs. I can 
hear the chorus already. Do not let anyone tell you that health care in 
England or Germany or Sweden or Norway or France or Japan is not as 
good as ours. Ours is good if you are lucky with the right piece of 
plastic in your pocket when you get sick. But if you do not have 
insurance, it is a real crapshoot. It is a real roll of the dice.
  Americans deserve universal health care, just like everybody else 
from the industrialized nations, all of the way to Iraq. Yes, most 
people would actually save money, according to the Congressional Budget 
Office, because if we tightened up the system and got rid of the 
millions of forms, the hundred billion dollars' worth of paper that we 
put in every year, we would have a cheaper system than we presently do 
with guaranteed benefits and guaranteed revenue.
  The President has said, ``These problems will not be solved with a 
nationalized health care system that dictates coverage and rations 
care.'' He said it right here in the well. Every health insurer in the 
United States dictates coverage. That is how they do business, and 
America is rationing care. The time has come to change that. We will 
talk more about that later.
  We need a solution.
  I have introduced H.R. 1200, the American Health Security Act. I also 
support other plans to reform our health care system.
  Reform will not change how health care is delivered, only how it's 
paid for.
  Health care providers will continue to do business as they already 
do, competing with one another, striving to be the best.
  Under my plan people can choose their doctor and hospital, an 
incentive for innovation and a reward for excellence.
  For health care providers, national health insurance means a 
guaranteed revenue stream.
  For Americans, national health insurance means coverage for everyone.
  America was founded on the premise of working together for the common 
good. Our society recognizes this responsibility every time a fire 
truck responds to a fire or a police car responds to a call for help.
  Today, there is an urgent call for help from voices across America.
  We have it in our power to respond. Come on Mr. President. We are 
already paying for universal health care. Let us make sure Americans 
get it.

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