[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 12, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5248-S5250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HEALTH CARE
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I have always believed health care policy
needs to be bipartisan, and needs to be ideas driven. So as we talk
about health care, I come to the floor to mention an idea our colleague
Senator Kerry has talked about which I think is especially promising
for small business.
The reality is, a very high percentage of the uninsured work in small
businesses. These small businesses are dying to cover their people. The
owners of those small businesses do not get up in the morning and say:
We want to be rotten to our workers in not giving coverage. They are
dying to figure out ways to help their small businesses.
Senator Kerry has come up with an idea that I think is really
innovative. He has said, given the fact resources are scarce, that
dollars for trying to address the uninsured, the needs of our small
businesses, are restricted, we ought to target those dollars where they
are needed the most. He has proposed the Federal Government, with
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respect to small business, concentrate on instances where there are
very large bills, bills above $50,000. He would have the Federal
Government step in and pick up about 75 percent of those costs. The
premiums that would be charged employers and their workers could be
trimmed about 10 percent in this fashion.
We know it has been documented that those who are particularly in
need of assistance when they face these very high bills are a very
large proportion of the health care costs in America. These health care
costs are particularly punitive for the small businesses. Small
businesses are always walking on economic tightropes. If one employee
at a small business gets sick, this can devastate the entire budget of
the company for not just health care coverage but the entire coverage
of the business.
I am very pleased Senator Kerry has brought forward this idea. I
think it is one that can be supported in a bipartisan way. The
Congress, over the years, has tried to look at ways to strengthen the
employer-based system of coverage. I think we all understand if you are
talking about starting scores of new programs, that would be very
difficult at this time. I also do not think it is warranted at a time
when we are spending $1.7 trillion on health care. If you divide that
up by 270 million Americans, it comes to more than $17,000 for a family
of 4. So we are spending a lot of money.
The challenge now is to really zero in on areas where the Government
can be best utilized. I think Senator Kerry's proposal with respect to
trying to deal with the costs of individuals who work at small
businesses with very high bills is particularly appropriate at this
time. It is something I think could be built in a bipartisan way.
I will have more to say about this and other proposals in the days
ahead. But as we come to the floor and talk--Democrats and
Republicans--about health care, I think we ought to make our policies
bipartisan. We ought to make them ideas driven. The kind of idea that
has been outlined by Senator Kerry with respect to the needs of
individuals who work at small businesses with very large bills is the
kind of thinking that would make a difference now. It is cost
effective. I think it warrants support on a bipartisan basis.
With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who seeks recognition?
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise to lament the fact that we have
made no progress in reducing the uninsured since 2001. This is an issue
we all need to be working together on because it affects everyone we
represent, every family, every business. In fact, nearly 4 million more
people are uninsured today than the day this administration took
office.
We need to light a fire. We need to have a sense of urgency about
getting this done for people. We can do much better than we are doing.
We live in the United States of America. We are the greatest, the
richest country on the face of the Earth. When we have the will, we can
make great things happen. That is what we need to do here.
We enacted Social Security in 1935. This program now serves as our
universal retirement, life insurance, and disability insurance system
for millions of people. A generation later we passed Medicare, our
Nation's universal health plan for seniors and the disabled. Even
though I am very concerned about the recent law that we passed and
whether it is a step backward--and I believe it is--the fact is, we put
in place in 1965 a policy based on a set of values that said, if you
are 65 or older, if you are disabled, you are going to receive health
care.
Interestingly, at that time, if we go back and read the record, this
was viewed as a compromise, a first step. Originally in 1960, what was
being debated was health care for everyone. Then when there was not the
support to pass that, the compromise was to start with older Americans
and with the disabled, to provide health care first to them and then to
open it up to all of our citizens. Yet today we are not seeing that
happening. It is now time to go the last mile. We need to make sure all
Americans have the same access to health insurance that we do in the
Senate.
As most colleagues know, approximately 80 percent of the people who
don't have health insurance are working--one job, two jobs, three jobs,
working very hard to care for their families. They have jobs. They go
to work. They play by the rules. Unfortunately, health insurance is so
expensive, they can't afford it or the business they work for can't
afford it. We need to value the hard work these people are doing. We
need to recognize and ensure that if they work for a living, they have
the health insurance they need for themselves and their families.
Regrettably, this administration has been basically silent on the
uninsured. When members of the administration do speak, they are
negative and pessimistic about providing access to affordable health
care for all Americans. For example, in January of this year, the
National Academy of Sciences said that the President and Congress
should work to achieve health insurance coverage for all Americans by
2010. That is a worthy goal, although I would argue too far into the
future.
What was the response? The administration's top health official,
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said universal
health coverage is ``not realistic . . . I don't think,
administratively or legislatively, it's feasible.''
Then 2 months later Secretary Thompson went on to minimize the
Nation's uninsured problem by saying:
Even if you don't have health insurance in America, you get
taken care of. That could be defined as universal health
care.
In other words, just go to the emergency room to get your health care
coverage.
In fact, too many people are doing that now. Sometimes you can just
get taken care of, but by the time an uninsured patient reaches the
emergency room, it is often too late to provide lifesaving health care.
Many of the uninsured forgo less costly preventative care and early
treatments, getting sicker as what money they have goes for the rent,
the car, the kids, and food.
Hospitals in Michigan indicate they have provided over $1 billion in
health care for the uninsured, uncompensated care this last year. Think
what we could do if we could capture that $1 billion and put it into a
system that worked on the front end, that kept people healthy, that
provided preventive care, that made sure they could see the doctor in
his office or her office rather than having to wait for the emergency
room.
We can do better than this in the greatest country in the world. I do
not think we should throw in the towel. We should not say we can't do
it, it is not feasible. It is time to create the will. The fact is, we
can do it, if we pick the right priorities. We can do the same thing we
did when we passed Social Security and Medicare--two great American
success stories that have provided economic security for people as they
grow older and retire and health care for older Americans and the
disabled. In my book, that was all about values, about what is
important. This certainly is equally important. We should be
optimistic. We should join all other modern countries and make sure all
Americans have access to affordable health insurance.
One of the reasons more and more families can't get health care is
because the costs are spiraling out of control. In fact, from 2000 to
2003, the average annual cost of premiums doubled, making health
insurance out of reach for more and more middle-income families and
small businesses. In 3 years, the costs have doubled. Medical problems,
in fact, were a factor in nearly half of all nonbusiness bankruptcy
filings. Overall, health care costs have gone up nearly 14 percent last
year. Meanwhile, workers' earnings increased by only 3 percent. You can
see the hole people find themselves in.
This is the fifth year in a row premiums outpaced earnings. We all
know that one of the reasons health care costs have escalated so fast
is the spiraling price of prescription drugs. I
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have talked frequently about this. I speak about it and focus on it
because it is such a driver for the costs of health care and health
insurance.
What has Congress done to fix this problem? Unfortunately, absolutely
nothing. In fact, the new Medicare law failed to do anything to lower
prescription drug prices. At the same time approximately 3 million
retirees will actually lose their prescription drug coverage under this
new law. This bill actually takes us backward instead of forward.
The only major health care coverage initiative this administration
has proposed is actually for the Iraqi people. Our country has made a
commitment to moving forward with universal health coverage for all
Iraqi citizens. We have provided $950 million to build hospitals and
clinics in Iraq.
Please do not misunderstand what I am saying. I certainly want to be
supportive of efforts to provide health care in Iraq.
What about us? What about Americans? I also want to help American
families who are working hard every day, playing by the rules in this
great country, and struggling to pay their bills and care for their
families. I think we can help both the people of Iraq and Americans at
the same time. It is our moral obligation, I believe, to make sure we
are helping American families as well as others.
Mr. President, working families deserve access to affordable care for
themselves and for their families. It is going to take leadership to
accomplish this. The administration has had almost 4 years to take
action, and it has not.
I believe it is time for bold change. I believe that when we are
looking at the price of prescription drugs, we need to take out that
provision in the new Medicare law that says Medicare cannot negotiate
for group discounts. That is pretty basic. We know that one of the main
ways you are able to lower prescription drug prices, or the price of
any product, is to be able to get a group discount. Everybody knows
that. Yet, in this new Medicare law, Medicare is specifically
prohibited from doing that. Who benefits from that? Certainly not the
taxpayers, certainly not American seniors or the disabled, and American
families certainly don't benefit from that. The prescription drug
industry benefits from that. What we have seen under the new Medicare
law, rather than providing lower prices for people, we have 40 million
seniors who are being locked into paying top dollar, and that makes
absolutely no sense.
We can do something about that. We can make changes in the Medicare
law so it works for people. We can also lower prices immediately by
simply allowing the local pharmacists at the local drugstores in
America to be able to do business with pharmacists in Canada or other
countries, where they can provide FDA-approved drugs and processes and
bring the prescription drugs--actually made in America--back to America
so we can get the same deal everybody else gets around the world.
We have a wonderful, bipartisan bill that has been put together. I am
hopeful that we will bring it to the Senate floor as soon as possible
and that we are able to pass what is called reimportation of
prescription drugs and lower prices. I am very hopeful and I am proud
to be a cosponsor of Senator Daschle's effort and vision to say that,
by 2006, we are going to make a commitment that every American has
access at least to the same level of health care that we receive. This
is one of the few instances where employees--elected officials--have
better health care and benefits than the employers. It is time to turn
that around. It is time to make a commitment.
Medicare, after it was passed, was put together in 1 year. We have
great American ingenuity. If we are bold and have a vision and have a
right priority, we can make sure that a year from now we are talking
about the implementation of health insurance for everyone that is
affordable and available to every single American.
I yield the floor.
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