[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1154-H1155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE SYSTEM MUST CHANGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there are those who contend that 
we are moving too quickly, we're moving too swiftly, and that we must 
slow down. In fact, this translates into we really should not go 
forward at all. And to these who would contend that we should stop at 
this point, that we should simply let it go, my response is: we cannot 
let health care go, because it won't let us go.
  The system is not sustainable. It is unsustainable as currently 
implemented. Currently, we're spending about $2.5 trillion per year on 
health care; $2.5 trillion is a big number. It's difficult to get your 
mind around $2.5 trillion; $79,000 a second, however, is a number that 
we can comprehend. And that is what we are spending--$79,000 per 
second. By 2018, depending on who's counting and how you count the 
numbers, we will be spending $139,000 per second. That would be more 
than 20 percent of GDP.
  We cannot sustain the current system. It must be revamped. This 
system has to change: 46 million people uninsured, depending on who's 
counting, when you count, and how you count. In my State of Texas, 6 
million people uninsured and 1.4 million children in the State of Texas 
are uninsured. In Harris County, where I reside, 1.1 million people are 
uninsured. The system cannot continue as it is constructed.
  We spend $100 billion per year in emergency rooms; $100 billion per 
year to cover those who are uninsured. That's money that could be well 
spent in a physician's office and would save us a lot of money and 
would also help us to deal with preventive measures as opposed to 
responding to illnesses when they become almost dire.
  The system must change. We currently have a system wherein there are 
many people who are too young for Medicare. They make too much to 
receive Medicaid. And they don't make enough to buy their insurance. 
The system has to change. We cannot allow preexisting conditions to 
continue to prevent pregnant women from getting proper treatment. 
Pregnancy is a preexisting condition under the current system. The 
system has to change.
  We must find a way to muster up the courage to take on this 
challenge. If we could pass and did pass Social Security when the polls 
were against it, if we passed other crucial measures when the polls 
were against them, we can pass health care reform. And for those who 
contend that in this country how you got here will depend upon whether 
you will get treatment, my response is this: if you commit a crime in 
this country and you harm someone, and we should harm you as the 
culprit, when we capture you, we will give you aid and comfort. In this 
country, if you are an enemy combatant and you hurt our warriors in 
battle and we should capture you and you have been wounded, we will 
give you aid and comfort. In this country, if you're on death row and 
you're going to meet your Maker next week, we will give you aid and 
comfort if you're suffering this week, and send you to your Maker next 
week.
  If we can give the enemy combatant, the person on death row, and the 
person who is a criminal aid and comfort, surely we're going to give it 
to people who find themselves hurt and in the streets of life. The 
system must change.
  Dr. King said it best. He said, On some questions, cowardice will 
ask, Is it safe? Expediency will ask, Is it politic? Vanity will ask, 
Is it popular? But conscience asks the ultimate question and that is, 
Is it right?

[[Page H1155]]

  This is the right thing to do. I stand where Dr. King stood when he 
told us we must do that which is neither safe nor politic nor popular, 
but do it because it's right.

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