[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 108 (Monday, September 13, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S9120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     JOHN KERRY'S HEALTH CARE PLAN

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I would like to speak briefly on another 
matter. It came to my attention that the President, today, spoke in 
Muskegon, MI, about health care. The President derided John Kerry's 
plan for reforming health care as a bureaucratic nightmare and 
contended it would cost $1.5 trillion.
  I want to mention for the record, when this President became 
President we were spending $1.3 trillion on health care. Now we are 
spending $1.8 trillion on health care. Do you hear me? That is a half a 
trillion dollars. That is a half-trillion-dollar increase that 
Americans are now spending on health care. What do we have to show for 
results? We have to show, as a result, that an average family would 
have to pay $10,000 for a family policy for comprehensive health care.
  The results will show we have had the greatest decline in coverage of 
insurance for American workers during the last 3 years in the history 
of our health insurance debate. Drug prices are skyrocketing right up 
through the roof. Ask any senior citizen about the cost increase in 
prescription drugs. At the same time, you will find some of the 
greatest profits in the history of the drug companies and the HMOs.
  I suggest that the tactics of fear and smear no longer be used when 
it comes to health care debates. Let us get rid of fear and smear. The 
facts do not add up to the recommendations and the suggestions we heard 
this afternoon. We know health insurance coverage is a crisis in this 
country in terms of cost and the increased numbers of uninsured and 
that prices are going up through the roof. Yet this administration 
absolutely opposed any opportunity for negotiated prices in terms of 
prescription drugs in the Medicare legislation last year.
  Distortion and misrepresentation is a great concern to me. We have 
seen this administration distort and misrepresent intelligence about 
getting us into Iraq. We have seen them distort and misrepresent 
intelligence when they talk about our economy. It has been true with 
regard to education and leaving 4.5 million children out of the No 
Child Left Behind Program.
  As I have said at other times, when this Nation made a commitment 
that we were going to cover Medicare, we covered all of our seniors. 
When we said we were going to cover voting rights, we covered all of 
our Americans who should have been eligible for voting rights. When we 
said we were going to cover all children in this country--and 4.5 
million of them being left out and behind--I compared it to the fact 
that when President Kennedy said we were going to the Moon, Congress 
gave us half the money to get us up to $150 million and not do anything 
else but get our astronauts to the Moon and not bring them home. Those 
are the facts.
  That is why these representations and debate in terms of health care, 
in terms of education, in terms of our economy, and in terms of Iraq--
this is an administration that has failed in terms of its 
responsibilities. It is misleading the American people on issue after 
issue. That is what this debate is about. We will have a chance to see 
its outcome on election day.
  I yield the floor.

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