[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 97 (Thursday, June 25, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7035-S7036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Health Care Reform

  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, just before walking into this Chamber, I 
attended a historic rally on health care reform across the street. 
Today, thousands of Americans--some from every State in this country--
traveled to Washington for one of the largest health care lobby days in 
the history of the Nation. I joined these citizens--volunteers, almost 
all--representing more than a thousand organizations and more than 30 
million people who are fighting to ensure that every American has 
access to affordable health care coverage.
  I am inspired by their activism and energy and by the message I hear 
from these Americans. I am hearing from hundreds of thousands of 
middle-class Ohioans, and their message is: Don't let the special 
interests hijack this health insurance reform.
  The message I hear is to make sure health care reform includes a 
strong public option. I will tell you about individuals, Americans like 
Joseph from Powell, OH, who are demanding they change. Joseph, an 
ordained pastor and doctor of psychology, wrote to me that as a child 
he suffered a stroke and became paralyzed and blind. His father's 
insurance expired and his family had no coverage. They struggled to 
provide the care he needed. As an adult, he is concerned that too many 
Americans are not receiving the medical care they need. Joseph wishes 
to see a public insurance option that will bring down costs and help 
all Americans lead a productive life.
  The spirit and energy of the people I met today--thousands from 
around this Nation demanding change--reaffirms why health care reform 
is so important.
  Health care reform is about keeping what works and fixing what's 
broken. Middle-class families from all over the country are demanding a 
health care system that reduces costs, enhances quality of care, and 
provides choice--choice either of a private insurance plan or of a 
public option. It is their choice. The existence of both will make the 
other behave better and make the other work better and will improve the 
quality of care for all Americans. Good old American competition.
  People are reminding elected officials in the Senate and House about 
Americans like Ken from Findlay, OH. He lost his manufacturing job a 
few years ago, after working in the industry for nearly 30 years. 
Shortly before losing his job, Ken began having serious health issues--
unexplained seizures and memory loss. In and out of the hospital, and 
out of a job, Ken was forced to find expensive private insurance after 
being denied Social Security disability and not yet old enough to be 
eligible for Medicare. Unfortunately for Ken, the price of the private 
insurance was simply too high.
  After a near-death seizure a few years ago, Ken was hospitalized 
again and diagnosed with lupus. After a month-long hospitalization, Ken 
entered a nursing home for rehabilitation.
  All this treatment was done without insurance. With tens of thousands 
of dollars in medical expenses, Ken had to withdraw from his 401(k) 
savings early--facing tax penalties, I might add--ultimately draining 
his lifetime, hard-earned savings, and putting his retirement security 
in jeopardy.
  It is unacceptable that Ohioans such as Ken, who worked hard all 
their lives, have to fight for health insurance simply to take care of 
their disability. That is why the time for health care reform is now.
  The HELP Committee has accomplished a lot on quality, on prevention 
and wellness, in part thanks to the contribution and efforts of the 
Presiding Officer from North Carolina. We have done well with the 
workforce shortages issue. We have good language on fraud and abuse. 
Clearly, most important, the most difficult work is in front of us. We 
have more work to do to make sure health care reform is about providing 
people with affordable, quality health insurance that protects them, to 
protect what works and to fix what is wrong.
  I need some of my colleagues to explain to me something that is 
pretty confusing. As we talk about this public option, I hear the 
insurance industry tell us over and over they can do things better, 
that with their marketing, their skills, their bureaucracy, their well-
paid executives and all the things they do they can do things better. 
As they argue against the public option, they say the government cannot 
do

[[Page S7036]]

anything right. What puzzles me is why the insurance industry is so 
afraid that the public option will put them out of business. They tell 
us the insurance business does things better, the government cannot do 
anything right, but yet they are afraid the public option will put them 
out of business. I don't understand.
  I encourage all of the grassroots volunteers whom I met today to keep 
moving forward to remind your elected officials this legislation is not 
about helping out the insurance companies. Health care reform is about 
helping people such as Cheryl from Cleveland.
  Cheryl is 59 years old and was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Her 
husband died just 4 months ago, and with no income, her insurance costs 
more than $400 a month. With no income, Cheryl cares for a disabled 
adult son and an autistic granddaughter. She writes that she has no 
choices and that our system is broken and unaffordable for her, for 
some of her neighbors, and for too many Americans. She writes that she 
needs health care reform now before all her savings are lost. That is 
why it is so important we do this now.
  President Obama is right we not wait for next year or the year after. 
Some people say the economy is bad; we cannot do it now. The same 
people said when the economy was good: We cannot do it now. As Chairman 
Dodd repeatedly said in the committee that Senator Hagan and I sit on, 
14,000 Americans every day are losing their health insurance.
  It is people such as Cheryl I talked about and Ken and Kathleen and 
Joseph--Kathleen, I will speak about in a minute--people who are losing 
their health insurance every day, 14,000 Americans every single day. 
For us to wait an additional 6 months or a year, or some people say 
let's wait until the next election until the voters, again, say we need 
health care reform, 14,000 people every day are losing their insurance.
  Health care reform is about helping small business owners such as 
Kathleen from Rocky River, OH, west of Cleveland. One of Kathleen's 
finest employees suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. Kathleen's premiums 
have increased to $1,800 a month, and after trying to purchase another 
plan, she was turned down because of her employee's arthritic 
condition.
  Keep in mind, if you have a small business of 10, 20, 50 employees, 
and you have a decent insurance plan, if one of them gets very sick to 
the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, everybody's premium goes 
up because it is such a small insurance plan. Then so often the small 
business person has to give up and cannot insure their employees. 
Kathleen is being victimized, as are her employees, by that phenomenon. 
She does not want to fire her finest employee, nor should she have to.
  I stand ready to work with my colleagues to design a public insurance 
option that will help provide middle-class families with economic 
stability, with stable coverage, with stable costs, with stable 
quality. I stand with the thousands of volunteers who were here today 
across the street demanding real change in our health care system. They 
are showing the world how change in America happens. Their activism is 
important--the stories of the people they are fighting for, people I 
just mentioned--Joseph, Ken, Cheryl, and Kathleen. That is why we 
cannot wait any longer. We need health care reform now, and we need a 
strong public option now.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Udall of New Mexico). The clerk will call 
the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.