[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 111 (Wednesday, July 22, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7860-S7861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, if you look at the front cover of 
newspapers across the country this week or watch cable news each day, 
it is pretty clear that the rhetoric on health care reform is really 
heating up. Whether it is threats from the other side of the aisle to 
``break'' a President who has made health care reform a priority or 
whether it is the million-dollar ad buys from interest groups we are 
seeing or whether it is political pundits, health care rhetoric is 
reaching a fever pitch. In fact, the discourse here in Washington, DC, 
has gotten so loud that the voice of American families is being drowned 
out.
  These days, those who need reform the most are the ones being heard 
from the least. That is why 3 weeks ago I sent an e-mail to many of my 
constituents asking them to share with me their personal stories of 
dealing with our health care system and asking them for their ideas for 
reform. So far, I have received in just a few short weeks over 5,000 e-
mails into my office with deeply personal and often very painful 
stories from every corner of my State. Yesterday, I came to the floor 
to share several of those stories. They were the stories of women who 
had lost their insurance, and due to an inability to get care when they 
needed it most, they lost their lives. Many of the letters I have 
received, such as those I spoke about yesterday, tug at the heart 
strings. But today, this evening, I wish to talk about what so many 
Americans are concerned about right now: their purse strings.
  I understand many Americans are satisfied with the level of care 
their insurance provides. These are the Americans who can get in to see 
a doctor when they need one, and they receive good, quality care. These 
are the Americans who want to know what is in it for them: What will I 
get out of reform? And with all of their other problems, why should we 
pay for it right now? These are good questions to which the American 
people deserve a good answer.
  It is not just the uninsured who are impacted by not being able to 
access preventive medicine or having to seek costly care in the 
emergency room. These costs get passed on to those with insurance in 
the form of higher insurance premiums. In fact, it is estimated that a 
family of four today here in this country is paying an added $1,000 in 
premiums a year to help pay for those who don't have any coverage. 
Essentially, families with health insurance today are paying a hidden 
tax. That tax is hurting our families who are insured, it is hurting 
our businesses, and it has to end.
  Health care reform will do that. By creating a competitive pool of 
insurance options, including a public option, we can bring down the 
costs and the premiums to families in the long run. We are going to be 
moving to a system that rewards innovation and healthy outcomes, and 
because Americans will have a choice of insurance plans, insurance 
providers will be forced to lower costs so they can be competitive.
  The existence of a pool of insurers to choose from means that if you 
lose your job, you don't lose your insurance. If you want to change 
jobs or maybe even start a business, there is a health care option for 
you. And we make it easier for small businesses to provide coverage for 
their employees by having them pay for up to half the cost of health 
insurance for businesses with 50 or fewer workers. Accordingly, we also 
prohibit insurance companies from charging higher premiums for women or 
for the elderly, and we end the practice of denying coverage to those 
people with preexisting conditions. And for the first time, we put a 
priority on prevention and wellness. If we invest in community-based 
programs to improve nutrition or prevent smoking or increase fitness, 
we are going to save taxpayers nearly $16 billion a year within 5 
years.
  So health care reform, when we talk about it here, will make health 
care coverage more affordable, portable, and undeniable.
  Let me give a real-life example of someone who has health insurance 
today but would benefit greatly from the health care reform we are 
talking about. One of the letters I recently received is from Patricia 
Jackson, who lives in Woodinville, WA. I suspect her story will sound 
pretty familiar to most Americans.
  Patricia and her family have private insurance that is paid for each 
month through premiums that come directly out of Patricia's paycheck. 
But as is the case with many middle-class families, the burden of those 
premium payments is rapidly rising. To provide care for her family of 
four, Patricia paid $840 a month in 2007. Then last year her payments 
jumped to $900 a month. Today she is paying $1,186 in premiums to 
provide care for her family every month.
  Unfortunately, for too many families, Patricia's story isn't the 
exception, it is the rule. It is exactly what they are seeing in their 
homes with their premiums.
  Health insurance premiums for working families in Washington State 
have

[[Page S7861]]

skyrocketed in recent years. In fact, according to a study by Families 
USA, from 2000 to 2007, premiums increased by 86.6 percent.
  Let me say that again. Over an 8-year period, premiums in my home 
State of Washington increased by 86.6 percent. But over that same 
period of time, wages in my State only grew by 16 percent.
  Health care premiums are taking a bigger and bigger chunk out of 
families' paychecks. Health insurance premiums rose over five times 
faster than median earnings, and that problem is not going away.
  For a lot of our average middle-class families who are struggling to 
make mortgage payments or to send their kids to college today, this is 
a situation that cannot continue. They can't afford it. If we don't 
have meaningful health care reform, it is a trend that is going to 
continue indefinitely.
  This reform can't come a moment too soon. Two weeks ago, Patricia's--
who I just talked about--insurance company, which is the largest 
private insurance company in my home State, announced another dramatic 
increase in premium. They told Patricia, and a lot of other families in 
my State, that starting on August 1, this company is going to raise 
premiums for 135,000 enrollees by an average of 17 percent more--17 
percent more from what I just told you.
  A front-page story in the Seattle Times, the day after that hike was 
announced, quoted Gail Petersen, who lives in north Seattle, who says 
that news means her premiums are going to rise by $300. She said:

       I would love to see insurance companies have a little 
     competition.

  So would Patricia Jackson. In fact, Patricia recently contacted my 
office again to let me know that, starting on August 1, her new 
premiums will be over $1,400 a month. That is unaffordable. It is 
unsustainable for Patricia, for America's families, for our businesses, 
and for America's future economic strength.
  Health care reform isn't just for the uninsured, it is for people 
such as Patricia and Gail and the millions of others who have health 
insurance right now, who have played by the rules, but whose paychecks 
and futures are being gouged by a system that lacks accountability, 
lacks competition, and lacks reason.
  Unfortunately, we are hearing from some of our friends on the other 
side who want to prevent meaningful, comprehensive reform from ever 
moving forward.
  Just as unfortunate are their motives. We heard a Member of our 
Senate say he wants to protect the status quo. He said:

       If we are able to stop Obama on this, it will be his 
     Waterloo, it will break him.

  Mr. President, that type of posturing is playing games with real 
lives and real people in order to score cheap political points. 
Blocking health care reform won't break the President of the United 
States of America, but it will break American families, it will break 
American businesses; it will break the bank.
  America deserves better. Congress knows that most Americans like 
their doctors, their providers, and their coverage. On the days they 
need to see a doctor, they are glad they can provide their families 
with coverage for booster shots, checkups, preventive, and even 
emergency care. But on payday, it is a very different story.
  For those of our colleagues who ask how we can afford to pay for 
this, I want to tell them to ask Patricia Jackson--or any of their 
constituents--because the real question is: How can we afford not to? 
Especially at a time when the economy is struggling and the costs of 
care are rising, we need to do everything we can to rein in those 
costs, prevent people from losing their coverage and having to seek 
more expensive care in our emergency rooms.
  Tonight we will hear from our President. He knows that doing nothing 
is not an option. The time is right, the time is now. Patricia, her 
family, and the millions of hard-working, taxpaying Americans across 
the country simply cannot wait any longer.
  I urge our Senate colleagues to set aside the rhetoric and begin to 
look at the issues and help us solve this problem so we can move this 
forward.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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