[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 115 (Wednesday, September 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S9473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE SKYROCKETING COST OF HEALTH CARE

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, recently, a new study confirmed a trend 
that most American families and businesses have known and felt for the 
past 3 years. Health care costs are rising at unsustainable rates, 
straining family budgets, weakening our economy, hampering job growth 
and forcing millions more Americans every year to go without insurance.
  According to the annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 
health premiums increased 11.2 percent last year, more than five times 
the rate of wages. This is the fourth consecutive year of double-digit 
increases. Since 2000, health care premiums have increased by 59 
percent and 5 million fewer Americans have access to employer health 
care coverage.
  Last month the Census Bureau also reported that in 2003 alone, the 
number of uninsured Americans jumped by 1.4 million. Seniors are among 
the hardest hit. In addition to facing record increases in the price of 
prescription drugs, Medicare recipients recently learned they will be 
forced to pay a 17.5 percent increase in premiums, the steepest 
increase in Medicare's history.
  The true costs of this crisis can't be depicted by statistics. There 
is no way to measure the stress caused by exorbitant health care bills. 
There is no way to measure the cost of the fear of families who worry 
that they are one layoff, one bad crop, one accident, or one illness 
away from being totally vulnerable, and they fell helpless to protect 
themselves.
  Not long ago, I heard from the Imm family of Turton, SD. A few months 
back, their 24-year-old son, Monte, came down with a case of Crohn's 
disease.
  As his disease grew worse, he couldn't work and he had to quit his 
job. After his insurance lapsed, he tried to buy coverage for himself, 
but with his condition, no insurer would offer him a policy.
  Monte's monthly prescription bill is $500, and that is on top of the 
tests and emergency room visits that have become all too routine.
  Doctors in Sioux Falls have recommended a trip to the Mayo Clinic, 
but the clinic requires a $1,500 deposit just to see Monte. The total 
cost will be much, much higher. Monte's parents are trying to help and 
are reaching into their retirement savings to do so. But Monte's health 
care costs will surpass $10,000 this year alone, and without good 
insurance, eventually the medical bills will eat up all they have 
worked for.
  Millions of American families are in the same position as the Imm 
family, and the implications of this crisis are rippling outward 
throughout our country.
  There is new evidence that as the cost of health care goes up, it is 
eating away at America's economy, holding back job creation, and 
stifling growth. A recent article in the New York Times showed that the 
cost of health insurance is preventing businesses, large and small, 
from hiring new workers, even if the workload demands it.

  One small business owner said:

       Before, we hired based on workload. Now it's a question of 
     affordability.

  Economists are finding that high health care costs are a major reason 
our economy has been unable to create jobs. Not long ago, when I asked 
a businessman why he outsources his jobs overseas, he said the reason 
was health care. He did not have to pay it in India. He did not have to 
pay it in countries abroad. He pays it here at home.
  Small businesses, which employ 50 percent of the Nation's workforce, 
face the greatest pressure of all. Because they are not big enough to 
bargain with insurers for better rates, and they cannot spread risk 
among larger pools of employees, small businesses too often are forced 
to pay for the nationwide increase in health care costs.
  In the past year, in the midst of the toughest business environment 
in a generation, the total cost for insuring employees of small 
businesses alone rose 18 percent. Those small businesses that try to do 
the right thing and offer their employees health benefits are finding 
it more difficult to do so with each passing year.
  I was recently contacted by Skip VanDerhule, who runs VanDerhule 
Moving and Storage, in Yankton. Even after raising employee premiums 
and copays, Skip's monthly premiums have risen 252 percent in 6 years. 
Skip has tried to look for better coverage, but recently an employee 
needed a kidney transplant, and he requires $30,000 per year in 
medicine alone just to keep his body from rejecting the new kidney. 
``As soon as the insurer sees that,'' Skip said, ``they don't want us. 
And they'll quote us a price to make sure that we don't want them.'' So 
Skip is stuck with the prospect of higher health care costs with 
absolutely no end in sight.
  In most businesses, the costs are passed along to their employees. 
Jana Schroeder, a medical professional from Sioux Falls, wrote me to 
say that even with good, dependable health insurance, her family pays 
$10,000 a year in health care costs.
  A recent, routine mammogram cost $2,700, of which she was asked to 
pay $850. She said:

       I guess I should feel lucky I have insurance, but $848 is a 
     full paycheck [for me]. So, do you pay that medical bill or 
     the house payment? I surely can't pay it all at once.

  Even with 100,000 Americans losing their health insurance every month 
since January of 2001, the White House has not provided any real 
options, no leadership in stopping the growth of this crisis.
  Some of the most promising possibilities for bringing down the cost 
of health care, such as drug reimportation, the administration has 
opposed. Yet this crisis will not solve itself. Unless we act, health 
care premiums will continue to rise, driving more people into the ranks 
of the uninsured, and holding back more businesses from earning profits 
and creating jobs.
  We have to do better. This is a national problem, and fixing it 
demands national leadership. Medical research is producing miracles 
quite often. Yet we are not solving a problem that is dragging tens of 
millions of Americans into poverty and poor health. This is not a 
question of ability or capacity; it is a question of will and 
leadership. It is time we seek out new ideas to help bring down the 
cost of health care.

  One promising new initiative would create a reinsurance system to 
help blunt the cost of catastrophic medical illness. Some researchers 
have suggested that such a program could save South Dakota employers 
tens of millions of dollars each year and billions nationwide.
  We need to debate these issues in Washington, but, regrettably, we 
have not had the opportunity to do so. In the past 2 years, we have 
spent 30 days discussing ways to limit access to the courtroom, but not 
1 day to debate real ways to bring down the cost of health care for all 
Americans.
  It is time for real action. We have an obligation to focus on the 
troubles of our economy and the Americans who are struggling to work 
and raise families. Our citizens are asking for leadership, and we have 
an obligation to answer that call.
  I yield the floor.

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