[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 24, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6969-S6971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Health Care Reform

  Lastly, I wish to talk about health care reform. There has been a lot 
of debate in this body, a lot of conversation about health care reform 
and what we need to do. I hope the only option that is not on the table 
is the status quo. We cannot allow the current system to continue.

[[Page S6970]]

  I say that for several reasons. First is the matter of cost. The 
Nation cannot afford the health care system we have now. Last year, the 
Nation's health care costs totaled $7,400 for every man, woman, and 
child in this country, for a total of $2.4 trillion. We spent 15 
percent of our gross domestic product on health care in 2006--the 
highest country by far. Switzerland, which is No. 2, spends 11 percent, 
and the average of the OECD nations is 8\1/2\ percent. We spend 
approximately twice as much as the industrial nations of the world 
spend on health care. And we don't have the results to warrant this 
type of expenditure. Of the 191 countries ranked by the World Health 
Organization, we are ranked 37th on overall health systems 
performance--behind France, Canada, and Chile, just to mention a few. 
We rank 24th on health life expectancies, and we ranked No. 1, by far, 
on health care expenditures. Between 2000 and 2007, the median earnings 
of Maryland workers increased 21 percent. Yet health insurance premiums 
for Maryland families rose three times faster than the median earnings 
in that same time period.
  So we can't afford the cost of health care in America. It is 
crippling our economy, and our budgets are not sustainable. We are 
having a hard time figuring out how we are going to bring down the 
Federal deficit. When we look at the projected numbers, if we don't get 
health care costs under control, it is going to be extremely difficult 
to figure out how to balance budgets in the future. We need to bring 
down the cost of health care if America is going to be competitive in 
this international competitive environment.
  For all those reasons, we need to do it. Yet we know we have 46 
million Americans--despite how much money we spend--who don't have 
health insurance, and that is 20 percent higher than 8 years ago. We 
are running in the wrong direction. In my State of Maryland, 760,000 
people do not have health insurance. Every day, people in Maryland and 
around the Nation are filing personal bankruptcy because they can't 
afford the health care bills they have. We have to do something about 
this.
  I wish to thank and congratulate President Obama for bringing forward 
a reform that I hope will be embraced by this body. It certainly has 
been embraced by the American people. They understand it. We build on 
our current system. We want to maintain high quality. And I say that 
coming from a State that is proud to be the home of Johns Hopkins 
University and its great medical institution; the University of 
Maryland Medical Center, with its discoveries; and certainly NIH. This 
is a State--a nation--that is proud of its medical traditions of 
quality. We want to maintain choice. I want the constituents in 
Maryland and around the country to not only choose their doctor and 
their hospital but to choose the health care plans they can participate 
in, and we certainly want to make sure this is affordable. So for all 
those reasons, we want to build on the current system.
  Let me talk about one point that has gotten a lot of attention, and 
that is whether we should have a public option. I certainly hope we 
have a robust public insurance option, and I say that for many reasons. 
Public insurance has worked in our system. Just look at Medicare. If 
the Federal Government did not move for Medicare, our seniors would not 
have had affordable health care coverage, our disabled population would 
not have had affordable health care coverage. I don't know of a single 
Member of this body who is suggesting that we repeal Medicare, and that 
is a public insurance option.
  A public insurance option does not have the government interfering 
with your selection of a doctor. The doctors and hospitals are private. 
We are talking about how we collect pay for these bills. And Medicare 
has worked very well, as has TRICARE for our military community. So we 
want to build on that experience.
  The main reason we want a public insurance option is to keep down 
cost. That is our main reason. We know Medicare Advantage is a private 
insurance option within Medicare. I am for a private insurance option 
in Medicare, but I oppose costing the taxpayers more money because of 
that. We know Medicare Advantage costs between 12 to 17 percent more 
for every senior who enrolls in the private insurance option. The CBO--
Congressional Budget Office--tells us that cost is $150 billion over 10 
years. So this is a cost issue.
  I remember taking the floor in the other body when we were talking 
about Medicare Part D, the prescription drug part of the Medicare 
system. I urged a public insurance option at that time, on the same 
level playing field as private insurance so that we could try to keep 
the private insurance companies honest and have fair competition. We 
didn't do that. As a result, the Medicare Part D Program is costing the 
taxpayers more than it should.

  So my main reason for saying we need to have a public insurance 
option is to keep costs down, but it also provides a guaranteed 
reliable product for that individual who is trying to find an 
affordable insurance option, for that small business owner who today 
finds it extremely difficult to find an affordable, reliable product 
available in the private insurance marketplace. Maybe the private 
insurance marketplace will be up to the challenge with 46, 47 million 
more people applying for insurance in America. I want to make sure they 
are. And having a public insurance option puts us on a level playing 
field and allows the freedom of choice for the consumer as to what 
insurance product they want to buy and the freedom of choice to choose 
an insurance product that allows them to choose their own private 
doctor and hospital.
  There are plenty of positive proposals, and I congratulate the 
leadership on the Finance Committee and on the HELP Committee for the 
manner in which they are working to bring down health care costs--first 
by universal coverage. Universal coverage will bring down health care 
costs. We know that someone who has no health care insurance uses the 
emergency room. It costs us a lot of money to use the emergency room. 
We want to get care out to the community, and with universal coverage 
it will bring down costs.
  Preventive health care saves money. It saves money and it saves 
lives. It provides better, healthier lives for individuals, but it also 
saves money. We know that providing a test for a person for early 
detection of a disease costs literally a couple hundred dollars 
compared to the surgery that might be avoided which costs tens of 
thousands of dollars. So this is about cost, about saving lives, and 
about a better quality of life with preventive health care. I 
congratulate the committees for really coming together on this issue.
  Also, the better use of health information technology will not only 
save us money in the administrative aspect of health care but actually 
in the delivery of care. If we know about a person and we can 
coordinate that person's care, we can bring down the cost of care and 
prevent medical errors.
  For all those reasons, I strongly concur in what our committees are 
doing currently to reform our health care system to bring down costs.
  One last point is the need for us to work together. I do reach out to 
every Member of this body to say: Look, I don't know of anyone who says 
our system is what it should be. Everyone agrees we are spending too 
much money. I haven't talked to a single Senator who believes we can't 
cut the cost of health care. We have to bring down the cost of health 
care. I think all of us agree we have to do a better job in preventive 
care and we have to do a better job of having an affordable product for 
those who don't have health insurance today. We all agree on that.
  Let's listen to each other and work together. This is not a 
Democratic problem or a Republican problem. It cries out for Democrats 
and Republicans to work together to solve one of the most difficult 
problems facing our Nation. I congratulate President Obama for being 
willing to tackle this problem, and I urge all colleagues to join in 
this debate so, at the end of the day, we can pass reform that will 
truly bring down the cost of health care to America, be able to say 
America still leads the world in medical technology, and allows that 
care to be available to all the people of our country.
  That is our goal. We can achieve it working together, and I look 
forward to working with my colleagues in achieving that goal.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hagan). The clerk will call the roll.

[[Page S6971]]

  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.