[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 51 (Wednesday, May 3, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E707]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        COVER THE UNINSURED WEEK

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 3, 2006

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in bringing 
attention to our Nation's uninsured.
  As we commemorate Cover the Uninsured Week, I would like to say that 
it is criminal that there are over 45 million uninsured people in this 
country, 8 million of them children.
  For a Nation that boasts about being the wealthiest in the world and 
claims liberty and justice for all, the fact that we have even one 
person without health insurance is a contradiction and a shame.
  Every single year an estimated 18,000 people die because they are 
uninsured and cannot get the medical care they need. 18,000 lives lost 
solely because we as a Nation fail to provide a basic human right to 
those living in this country.
  And instead of addressing this crisis head on, this Administration 
and Republican leadership have contributed to increasing numbers of 
uninsured people.
  Mr. Speaker, during the Bush Administration the number of uninsured 
has risen by 6 million people. More people are now without health 
insurance than at any point since the Census began collecting 
comparable data in 1987.
  The Republicans prefer politics and profit over vulnerable people. It 
is obvious that consumer driven health plans and cuts to Medicaid are 
not the answer to this problem. Health Savings Accounts and Association 
Health Plans provide benefits only to those who are rich and healthy. 
They will do nothing to decrease the number of uninsured who are 
typically lower-income and have more health problems.
  The increase in the number of uninsured in this country also 
continues to disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities.
  Of the over 45 million uninsured, 32.7 percent are Hispanic; 19.7 
percent are Black; and 16.8 percent are Asian. Furthermore, over 25 
percent of the Native American population is uninsured.
  Despite this devastating crisis in our Nation, we do have a solution. 
It is universal access to quality health care and we must demand it for 
our people and make it a priority of this Congress.
  The United States is the only industrialized Nation that does not 
provide some form of universal access.
  As a co-chair of the National Health Insurance Caucus, I have fought 
in Congress for universal access. That is why I have sponsored H.R. 
3000, the Josephine Butler United States Health Insurance Act and 
support my colleague John Conyers' universal health care bill, H.R. 
676.
  The goal of our legislation is so simple--to ensure that all 
individuals have access, guaranteed by law, to the highest quality and 
most cost effective healthcare services regardless of their employment, 
income, or healthcare status.
  While I promote universal coverage, I also support the Family Care 
Act, the Medicare Early Access Act, and the Small Business Health 
Insurance Promotion Act, 3 bills that, if enacted, would provide health 
insurance to half of the uninsured.
  If this nation fails to take action right now, the number of 
uninsured will only continue to increase. Currently, national health 
care spending is rising by more than 7 percent per year. We all know 
that as health costs rise, more and more people lose their health 
insurance either because their employer can't afford it or they can't 
pay for it.
  Mr. Speaker, two out of every five or 41 percent of working-age 
Americans with incomes between $20,000 and $40,000 were uninsured for 
at least part of the past year. This is a dramatic and rapid increase 
from 2001 when just over one-quarter or 28 percent were uninsured.
  In fact, only 19 percent of the uninsured are from families with no 
connection to the work force. That means 80 percent of the uninsured 
are working people. People who go to work, but cannot afford to obtain 
health care. We can not continue to spread the belief that employment 
guarantees access to health insurance.
  If we don't acknowledge health care as a basic human right soon, it 
will be too late for some, and our societies most vulnerable will 
continue to suffer.
  These are the Americans who are too often ignored. The uninsured have 
lived a campaign of survival, and deserve a voice today and every day 
on this floor.
  These 45 million people are calling out for their government to put 
people before profit. They realize that access to quality health 
insurance or universal health care is essential in impacting health 
outcomes.
  Over 40 percent of the uninsured have no regular source of health 
care and utilize emergency care due to avoiding high cost regular 
visits.
  This situation creates an ongoing cycle of adults and children 
skipping the key preventive medicine steps, like routine check-ups, 
recommended tests, and low-cost treatments.
  By ignoring preventive treatments and not addressing the sky-high 
health costs; we are creating sicker people.
  It is a fact that the uninsured are more likely than those with 
insurance to be hospitalized for conditions that could have been 
avoided.
  We are putting our uninsured in the position of choosing between 
dealing with an illness at its early and most treatable stage or 
feeding their family.
  Mr. Speaker, the message we must send is that universal access to 
quality health care should be provided without discrimination to all.
  We must make health care accessible! Make health care affordable! 
Make health care a guarantee!
  I encourage all of my colleagues to support legislation that will put 
people before profit in our health care system.

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