[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S10636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I wanted to take this opportunity to share 
with my colleagues an especially poignant and meaningful column that 
appeared in the Boston Herald last week by Wayne Woodlief honoring the 
efforts Senator Edward M. Kennedy has made to enact legislation to 
provide health care for all Americans--and looking forward to his 
leadership on this issue. As Senator Kennedy recently said ``It is 
painfully obvious that our health care system costs Americans too much, 
costs employers too much, denies too much needed care and leaves out 
too many Americans.'' He is right. We need to take immediate action 
next year to reform our health care system. I look forward to working 
with Senator Kennedy to enact broad reform of our health care system to 
help every American gain access to high-quality, affordable health 
care.
  I ask unanimous consent to have the column to which I referred, 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                    Barack Obama, Listen to Dr. Ted

                          (By Wayne Woodlief)

       Now's the time for President-elect Obama and Congress to 
     seize the moment and enact health care for all Americans. 
     ASAP.
       Sen. is pressing a new strategy--shaped in bipartisan 
     meetings--for one consensus bill that can be moved swiftly 
     through the Senate and the House, perhaps even in Obama's 
     first 100 days.
       Kennedy has courted and listened to allies on both sides of 
     the aisle. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), ranking Republican on the 
     Health Care Committee that Kennedy chairs, is working with 
     Teddy. And Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) 
     weighed in this week with his own ideas on health care; ideas 
     that look a lot like Kennedy's and like the Massachusetts 
     universal coverage law that Teddy touts as a national model.
       Kennedy said Baucus' White Paper ``brings us closer to our 
     goal.'' Especially since the finance committee has to find a 
     way to pay for a law that would cost billions, yet help tens 
     of millions of struggling citizens, many without jobs now, 
     pay their health care bills.
       That is different from the early 1990s when then-Chairman 
     Daniel Patrick Moynihan's opposition doomed health care 
     reform championed by Kennedy and the Clintons.
       And Obama--though treading carefully--said recently that 
     health reform is ``priority number three,'' right after the 
     economy and energy independence, adding, ``I think the time 
     is right to do it.''
       Amen. Passage of universal health care would be the 
     capstone on Kennedy's legacy. And Obama owes him. The passing 
     of the Kennedy torch to Obama by Teddy and niece Caroline 
     just before Super Tuesday was a turning point in Obama's path 
     to the presidency. He also owes it even more to all those 
     people to whom he promised relief.
       In last Sunday's Washington Post, Kennedy wrote, ``it is no 
     longer just patients demanding change. Businesses, doctors 
     and even many insurance companies are demanding it ... The 
     cost will be substantial, but the need for reform is too 
     great to be deflected or delayed.''
       For those who would say, ``That's just a liberal talking,'' 
     hear this:
       David Blumenthal, director of the Institute for Health 
     Policy for the Partners Health Care System and an Obama 
     adviser, said, ``Some of the largest corporations in America 
     are struggling to compete in the world marketplace because of 
     high health care costs.''
       Rick Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American 
     Hospital Association, said the economic turmoil, coupled with 
     health care's high costs, ``will likely mean the loss of jobs 
     and employer-related health coverage ... and possibly even 
     diminishing access to health care services.''
       Nancy Nielsen, president of the American Medical 
     Association, said, ``The cost of doing nothing is much higher 
     than the alternative''--the scuffling to pay for good care, 
     including preventive care, and dooming millions to ``live 
     sick and die younger.''
       These aren't socialists. These are people who work with 
     health care daily and know the crisis it is in.
       Kennedy has worked behind the scenes to craft health reform 
     since Memorial Day, by phone, by e-mail and even by face-to-
     face meetings despite his illness. He's back in Washington, 
     and he's not slowing down.
       As soon as Obama takes that oath that Kennedy's slain 
     brother took 48 years ago, he should start preaching and 
     working for health care for all. And Congress, which Kennedy 
     has served for so long, should do it for Teddy--and for the 
     American people. It's time to strike while those stars are 
     aligned.

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