[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 149 (Thursday, October 15, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10460-S10461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, last night I joined Senator Udall from New 
Mexico and Senator Whitehouse and the Presiding Officer, Senator 
Burris, and some others. Senator Durbin, the other Illinois Senator, 
was there too for part of the evening, talking about the public option 
and why it is so important to keep the insurance industry honest, to 
help constrain costs and to compete directly with private insurance so 
that people, as they join those who are uninsured, who want to get 
insurance, can choose. They can choose Cigna, they can choose Aetna, 
they can choose WellPoint, they can choose United. In my State they can 
choose Medical Mutual, or they can choose a public option, so they 
would have that choice and it provides more choice to people. It is not 
a government takeover in any way. It simply provides more choice for 
those people who are insured.
  I come to the floor, day after day, sharing letters I received from 
people in Ohio, from Cincinnati and Dayton, from Athens and Saint 
Clairsville, from Toledo and Lima. People who generally write most of 
these letters are people who were satisfied with their health 
insurance. They thought they had pretty good health insurance.
  They find out, when they get sick, that their health insurance isn't 
what they thought it was. They end up battling every week with their 
insurance company trying to get something paid for. They find out maybe 
their insurance coverage got cut off--insurance companies call it 
rescission, their official bureaucratic word--as so many people lose 
their health insurance when it has gotten too expensive. These are 
people who were satisfied with their insurance and then found out it is 
not so great after all.
  I wish to share some of the letters I have received from Ohio. This 
is from Tony from Rocky River. He writes:

       I'm the Executive Director of a provider of residential and 
     group homes for people with developmental disabilities. We 
     employ 250

[[Page S10461]]

     staff members, most of whom make a starting wage of $8.50 per 
     hour. We offer health insurance to staff who work at least 24 
     hours a week. We don't have a Cadillac plan, we provide just 
     basic coverage. We believe in doing this [because] many of 
     our staff members are part-time workers and have to work two 
     other jobs just to pay for bills, groceries, and utilities. 
     We recently started negotiations with our health insurance 
     carrier for our 2010 rates. We were informed that we may have 
     an 84 percent increase over last year's rate.

  That is almost double what they had last year.

       We were told the increase was due, in part, because one 
     staff member [out of 250] had a heart attack in the past year 
     and another staff member is being treated for renal failure. 
     We were shocked as we already pay close to $500,000 per year 
     for our coverage. We could now be facing an additional 
     $420,000 just to cover [the same number of] employees. You 
     would expect in a staff of 250 that someone would have an 
     illness, yet we are being severely penalized for being 
     responsible and offering coverage to our workers and their 
     families.

  That is what is happening. This is not a tiny, small business, but in 
a small business, so often one person, two people, three people get an 
expensive illness. Sometimes the insurance company will cut them off 
individually or as a group. Other times the increase for insurance will 
be so much that people such as Tony may not be able to offer insurance 
to their employees. This is so important. These are low-income people 
making $8.50, $9 an hour doing work that most people in this Chamber 
wouldn't be willing to do, getting paid such low wages. At least they 
offer health insurance. That may be gone. That is why reform is so 
important. That is why the public option is so important, so we don't 
see this kind of profiteering by the insurance industry.
  Rebecca from Summit County writes:

       I have two sons with severe ADHD. They were both diagnosed 
     at an early age, due to their extremely impulsive behavior. 
     Each son requires three prescriptions per day to enable them 
     to go to school and get through their daily life. With the 
     medication and periodic exams with a neurologist, they are 
     doing well. My employer pays over half the cost of our 
     premiums, but my portion of the premium is $600 per month out 
     of my paycheck. I'm worried that soon my employer will be 
     unable to continue our coverage. As it is, my husband and I 
     don't go to the doctor because we simply can't afford it. 
     Even though it might not seem like a life-or-death situation, 
     it really is. Without their medication, my sons have serious 
     illnesses with impulsiveness that could be dangerous. If they 
     don't complete their education, they won't be able to support 
     themselves in the future.

  Nothing scares a parent more than leaving behind children who can't 
support themselves because of some kind of illness. I don't think 
anything terrifies parents more than that.

       I know our situation isn't unique, so I hope something can 
     be done to help all Americans.

  Rebecca's is another plea for help from this institution. It is 
simply unconscionable for us not to move forward.
  Let me close talking about Virgil from Akron. He is a retired 30-year 
veteran of the Akron Police Department and has to spend one-third of 
his retirement pay on health insurance premiums. Virgil retired in 
1999, when the premium for him and his wife Marlene was $45. Only 11 
years later, Virgil and Marlene pay monthly premiums of $700--from $45 
to $700. This is a retired 30-year veteran police officer who served 
his community as a law enforcement official for three decades. 
Struggling with high out-of-pocket medical expenses, Virgil and his 
family resorted to pill cutting to make their prescriptions last 
longer. Virgil and the dedicated police officers, firefighters, 
teachers, nurses, and public servants deserve better than. They deserve 
health reform 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 assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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