[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 122 (Thursday, August 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8892-S8893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. KAUFMAN. Madam President, the White House, the Congress, and the 
American people are engaged in a stark debate over our Nation's health 
care insurance system. A lot is at stake. We will make a choice in 
2009, and that choice will determine the health care system we have in 
our Nation for a long time to come.
  Fifteen years have passed since we last attempted to pass health care 
reform. What we do now will be consequential for decades to come. It 
will be a long time before the people of this country and their leaders 
will return to this complex and contentious issue.
  So let us carefully review the potential plans. We have a plan being 
developed by the House of Representatives, we have a plan from the 
Senate HELP Committee, and a plan from the Finance Committee, we have 
the bipartisan Wyden-Bennett plan, and then we have a plan I am going 
to spend a lot of time talking about, and that is the PHS plan.
  In listening to my colleagues speak on the floor of the Senate, on 
television, talk radio, in newspapers, and in private meetings, one 
thing is clear:

[[Page S8893]]

They think the plan we end up with will be the PHS plan. They think a 
combination of those who want no health care reform and those who like 
none of the proposed plans will combine to kill all other plans. So 
what is the PHS plan? Our present health care system.
  Let's look at what will happen to average Americans if we keep our 
present health care system.
  First, Americans' health care insurance costs will explode--and that 
is not an overstatement--explode. The average family in America can 
look forward to premium costs for their health insurance of more than 
$24,000 a year by 2016. That is an 83-percent increase over the cost in 
2008. In my home State of Delaware, the costs will be even higher, with 
the average premium for family coverage approaching $29,000. At that 
amount, more than half of Delaware families would each have to spend 
half of their income on health insurance. This means families will be 
forced to either go without insurance or to buy less coverage and put 
their life savings at risk.
  Second, personal bankruptcies for medical costs will soar. Today, 
bankruptcies involving medical bills account for more than 60 percent 
of U.S. personal bankruptcies, a rate 1\1/2\ times that of just 6 years 
ago. Going forward under PHS, we can expect more families in 
bankruptcy.
  Third, insured Americans will keep paying a hidden tax to help pay 
for care for the uninsured. Under the PHS plan, doctors and hospitals 
will charge insurers even greater amounts to recoup the costs to 
provide services to the uninsured. Today, this hidden tax is estimated 
to be $1,100 per family per year. Under the PHS plan, it will most 
assuredly go up, raising the cost of health care for all Americans.
  Fourth, Americans will continue to be denied coverage if they have 
preexisting conditions. Several weeks ago, I talked about four 
Delawareans who, because of preexisting conditions, could not find 
insurance coverage. Others who could get coverage have to pay 
exorbitant premiums to cover conditions such as high cholesterol, 
hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Unfortunately, those who get sick 
may have their coverage dropped altogether. These problems, which 
threaten the security of all families, will continue under the PHS 
plan.
  Fifth, for too many workers, health insurance portability will still 
be beyond reach. Too many Americans lose their insurance when they lose 
their jobs. Some can't afford their COBRA coverage, and others can't 
get another policy due to preexisting conditions. Even when they can 
find a new policy, they often discover they can no longer see the same 
doctor or use the same hospital.
  As a result, too many Americans are stuck in their jobs, forgoing 
career advancement, just to keep their existing health plans.
  Now let's look at what will happen to the American economy if we keep 
our present health care system.
  First, our present health care system is bankrupting the Federal 
Government.
  The biggest driving force behind our Federal deficit is the 
skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid. In 2008, government 
spending on Medicare and Medicaid took up more than one dollar out of 
every five in our Federal budget.
  The more we spend on health care, the less we have for other 
investments--for education, for our veterans, and for job-creating 
technologies, to name a few.
  To pay those higher Federal health care bills, we will have to pay 
more taxes or borrow more from China and other nations.
  Controlling health care costs is the key to controlling our financial 
future. But under the PHS, health care costs continue to spiral out of 
control.
  Second, health care spending will crowd out our national savings and 
lower our standard of living.
  Health care cost as a percent of gross domestic product will grow 
from 18 percent today to 28 percent in the year 2030--and even 34 
percent in 2040.
  Those dollars out of every family's budget going to health care 
cannot go for housing, food, or transportation. American consumers, 
over two-thirds of our economy, will have fewer dollars left for any 
other priorities.
  That means less spending at the mall, at our car dealers, and at the 
grocery store. Controlling health care costs will put money back in 
families' budgets and therefore back into the rest of our economy.
  Third, the present health care system is killing U.S. economic 
competitiveness.
  Today, U.S. manufacturing firms pay almost $5,000 per worker per year 
in health costs.
  That's more than twice the average cost for firms located in our 
major trading partners such as Europe and Japan, where a firm pays less 
than $2,000 per worker each year.
  In a global economy, our workers and corporations face competitors 
who can beat them on price every time, just because of our broken 
health care system. Controlling health care costs will help to level 
that playing field. In a fair fight, our workers and our businesses can 
win.
  Finally, more firms will stop offering health insurance for their 
employees.
  The PHS will continue the slow erosion of employer-sponsored 
insurance. This is especially true for small businesses.
  In the 2008 Employer Health Benefits Survey conducted by the Kaiser 
Family Foundation, only 63 percent of companies of all sizes offered 
health insurance to their employees, down from 69 percent in 2000.
  But these numbers are even lower when looking just at small 
businesses, with the National Small Business Association reporting that 
that only 38 percent of small businesses provided coverage last year, 
compared to 61 percent in 1993.
  Under the PHS plan, this decline in coverage will continue, with an 
estimated 10 percent of small businesses eliminating coverage in the 
next year and nearly 20 percent in the next 3 to 5 years.
  Under the PHS plan, that would mean an additional 13 million added to 
the rolls of the uninsured in the next 5 years.
  So that is what America will get if we decide to choose the PHS plan. 
Again, that is the present health care system.
  If we choose the PHS plan, consumers will pay higher and higher 
premiums, including the hidden tax to help pay for all of our fellow 
Americans without insurance.
  We will continue to see a rise in personal bankruptcies due to high 
medical costs. Americans will continue to face insurance coverage 
rejections based on preexisting conditions or have insurers drop their 
policies once they do get sick. And they won't have portable insurance 
that they can take from job to job.
  If we choose the PHS plan, health care spending will continue to 
threaten the bottom line of our Federal budget, eating away higher 
percentages of our GDP.
  Our businesses will face more competitive disadvantages to their 
foreign competitors, paying more for health care insurance for their 
employees, or dropping it altogether.
  The present health care system mistreats Americans as individuals and 
serves the country badly as a whole. We cannot continue in the present 
health care system.
  I hope my colleagues will return in September committed to replacing 
our present health care system. I hope they will spend August searching 
for the best of the alternative plans that they want to support.
  I hope we will turn our backs on the bankrupt present health care 
system and instead give the American people a health care system they 
can all be proud of--a health care system that will sustain them into 
the future.
  We can do no less. They deserve no less.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Tennessee see is 
recognized.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, will the Chair let me know when I 
have 30 seconds remaining?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Yes.

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