[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 52 (Thursday, May 4, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        COVER THE UNINSURED WEEK

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 4, 2006

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, this is Cover the Uninsured Week. As we 
take this occasion to reflect on the ways in which we can cover the 
uninsured, I encourage my colleagues to address the issue head-on. We 
need a solution that will not only address the uninsured problem, but 
will also address the rising cost and inequities.
  Consider that we pay almost twice as much for health per person than 
the average of other industrialized countries. Yet the World Health 
Organization ranks our health care system 37th in the world. The 
situation is worsening as costs continue to increase, employers 
continue to scale back coverage and the number of uninsured, now 46 
million, continues to rise. Four out of five (82%) of the uninsured are 
in working families. 46% of all bankruptcies were either fully or 
partly caused by illness or medical bills according to a Harvard study. 
Three-quarters of those bankrupted by illness were insured when they 
first got sick. Our health care system based on private health plans 
gives us low quality, inefficiency, inaccessibility and is ultimately 
unsustainable.
  The inefficiency of privately administered health care is especially 
stark. Between 1970 and 1998, total healthcare employment in the US 
grew 149 percent while the number of managers in health care grew 2348 
percent. Our businesses bear the burden of that inefficiency because 
they provide health care to most Americans lucky enough to have it. All 
other industrialized countries have universal health care that costs 
less. The result is that our businesses are losing competitive 
advantage. Ontario now makes more cars than Detroit. Canadian GM, Ford, 
and Daimler Chrysler signed a letter in support of their single payer 
heath care system because of the advantage it gives them.
  Managed care has failed. Employer based insurance is failing and 
dragging down American businesses. Consumer driven health care being 
trumpeted by right wing ideologues tries to control costs by providing 
less care, not more. Instead, we need to control costs by addressing 
the real inefficiencies, not by growing the uninsured and underinsured. 
We know exactly how to do it.
  Traditional Medicare enjoys consistently higher satisfaction ratings 
than private insurance. Its overhead costs are about 3 percent compared 
to overhead costs of private health plans which average about 31 
percent. Medicare's rates of cost increase have been significantly 
lower than in private health plans. We need such a time tested, rock 
solid model like Medicare to address our health care crisis. In fact, 
by addressing the inefficiencies, we could bring everyone in the U.S. 
under Medicare and they would pay no premium, no deductible, and no 
copayments.
  Polls consistently find that Americans favor expanding government 
guaranteed health insurance like Medicare to all Americans. The Deans 
of medical schools including Harvard and Stanford, 14,000 doctors, 
including the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, and 
two former Surgeons General now support national health insurance like 
HR 676. Newspapers around the country are making the case for Medicare 
for All, including two recent editorials in the New York Times and the 
Wall Street Journal. Over 100 unions have officially endorsed it. HR 
676 boasts the support of 69 members of Congress, including 9 ranking 
members of full committees and 28 ranking members of subcommittees.
  Access the high quality health care is a right. I encourage my 
colleagues to support real health care reform that covers all of the 
uninsured and contains costs. Please support HR 676, the Expanded and 
Improved Medicare for All Act.

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