[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 67 (Monday, May 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S5061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, in the last 2-plus years, I have held 
almost 150 roundtables around my State, and there is one thing I know 
for sure: health care reform must include health insurance reform.
  Ohioans--as are North Carolinians and people from Connecticut--are 
tired of trying to get coverage and being rebuffed because they have a 
``preexisting health condition.'' They are tired of premiums, 
deductibles, and copays that keep climbing. They are tired of fighting 
tooth and nail simply to get their claims paid. They are tired of 
wondering whether their insurer will pay for them to see the specialist 
they need, get the medicine they need, have the operation they need. 
They are tired of health insurance, which is supposed to ease 
uncertainty, breeding uncertainty instead. If they lose their job, they 
lose their insurance. If they get sick, they cannot get insurance. If 
they submit a claim, it may be paid in a month, in 3 months, in 6 
months. Sometimes they fight and fight and fight, and the claim is not 
paid at all. Ohioans are tired of their insurer treating them like 
unwanted guests rather than paying customers.
  To be meaningful, health care reform must be responsive. And to be 
responsive, health care reform must address insurance affordability, 
insurance reliability, and insurance continuity. That requires a two-
part strategy.
  The first strategy is to give Ohioans and every American more 
options. They should be able to choose whether to keep the coverage 
they have or purchase coverage backed by the Federal Government. What 
is the difference between the two?
  The federally backed plan--again, an option--would provide 
continuity; it would be available in every part of the country, no 
matter how rural, no matter how sparsely populated, its benefits would 
be guaranteed, and its cost-sharing would be affordable, no ifs, ands, 
or buts. The federally backed plan would be an option but certainly not 
the only option. Americans who have employer-sponsored coverage would 
still have it. Americans who have individual coverage through a private 
insurer would still have that. The federally backed insurance would be 
an option, not a mandate. Some people will choose it, others will not.
  One reason such an option--a Federal option--is important is because 
hundreds of thousands of Americans are losing their jobs and have no 
place to go, have no affordable coverage options. This would give them 
one. Where would they turn otherwise? If you have ever tried to 
purchase affordable coverage in the individual insurance market, you 
understand why a federally backed insurance program is so important. If 
you live in a rural area where no affordable insurance coverage is 
available, you know why a federally backed insurance option is so 
important. There needs to be an option for people who cannot find what 
they need in the private insurance market--just as Medicare is there 
for seniors. The federally backed option will give those under 65 a 
place to turn.
  The second strategy is to fix what is wrong with private insurance. 
Ohioans should not be discriminated against by insurers based on past 
health care needs. Take, for example, Debra from Summit County, OH, 
near Akron. She is one of the nearly 50 million Americans locked out of 
our health care system because she lacks insurance. Her income is too 
high for Medicaid, and her preexisting conditions--she has a spinal 
injury and is recovering from two heart attacks--disqualify her from 
finding affordable insurance in the private market. As a result, she 
has piled up thousands of dollars in unpaid bills and is in constant 
pain.
  She wrote to me:

       My only option [is] to start paying for my funeral.

  Ohioans should not have to go through 100 hoops just to get a claim 
paid or see the specialist they need. They should not have to wait for 
months to receive their claims check. They should not have to pay 
premiums that break the bank. They should not have to pay copays and 
deductibles so high that coverage, for all intents and purposes, is 
meaningless. They should not be subjected to huge bills based on the 
difference between what their provider charges and their insurer's 
reasonable and customary payments. When an insurer reimburses providers 
only pennies on the dollar and patients have to pick up the difference, 
that is not reasonable. That is not real insurance.
  Long story short: Insurance reform, plus the public option, must be 
part of health care reform. We cannot claim we have fixed our health 
care system while leaving a fault-riddled insurance system intact. If 
we give consumers more options, including the option to purchase 
federally backed coverage designed to provide affordability, 
reliability, and continuity, and if we reform the private health 
insurance system to require insurers to actually do their job instead 
of skirting their liability, we will have gone a long way toward making 
the U.S. health care system work for every American.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I compliment our colleague from Ohio for his 
eloquent statement. I think it is important that we all hear our 
colleagues as to what goes on in our respective States.
  I commend my colleague, who has had around 150 roundtables in his 
State where he has been listening to his constituents on a wide range 
of issues. I think we all benefit from his report on those meetings.
  I say to my colleague from Ohio, those responses you are hearing from 
your constituents in Ohio are not any different from what we are 
hearing from all across the country, as I know my colleague is aware. 
So we thank our colleague very much for that, and his comments on 
health care are very important.

                          ____________________