[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 19, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H3234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           REFORM HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, like the economy the war and the United 
States' credibility around the world, health care is another casualty 
of the Bush administration.
  Today, nearly 44 million Americans are without health insurance. The 
vast majority of those people live in households where someone is 
working full time. The cost to cover the uninsured is about 5 months' 
worth of the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, Americans who have health 
insurance are being forced to pay more than ever before. And the 
administration wants to shift even more of the burden to every American 
under the guise of reform.
  A new study by researchers at Oregon Health and Science University 
put it bluntly, ``We spend much more than any other industrialized 
country in the world on a per capita basis and we get much less in 
return.''
  Health care is a crisis that demands real leadership and real 
solutions. So health care will remain a crisis as long as the 
administration remains in office. The 2nd of November cannot come soon 
enough for Americans without health insurance.

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