[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 9, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1283-S1284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I know you and I and others in this 
Chamber are focused like a laser beam on getting this economy turned 
around. Although we see some promising signs--for example, in my State 
of California it turns out that last month 32,000 new jobs were 
created--we still are not moving quickly enough on the jobs front. That 
is why I am particularly pleased that Leader Reid is focused on jobs, 
jobs, jobs, and we are going to finish, hopefully, the bill that is 
before us which is very critical to jobs.
  Then we are going to move on to the FAA reauthorization--the Federal 
Aviation Administration reauthorization--which is going to create 
160,000 new jobs as we modernize our Nation's airports. After that, we 
are going to stop for a brief moment and take up the HIRE Act that we 
passed over here, and it has been passed in the House with a couple of 
pay-go changes. That will extend the highway trust fund until the end 
of this year and will save 1 million jobs.
  Mr. President, we can't play politics with the highway trust fund. 
The Nation needs us to build our highways, our bridges, and our roads. 
So we are doing the right thing.
  There is one piece of unfinished business that is directly related to 
our economy. There is no question that health care is directly related 
to our economy, and we need to fix a health care system that is broken.
  Now, I have listened to my Republican friends on this for a very long 
time, and they have a message for the American people. I would like to 
distill that message.
  That message is, when it comes to health care reform, when it comes 
to fixing the health care system, be afraid. Be very afraid.
  Mr. President, that is not the American way. When there is a 
challenge in front of us, we act. We don't cower in the corner in fear. 
I think it is important to note that if one were to be afraid, it 
should not be of fixing the system--which, in our mind, means if you 
like your health insurance, you can keep it, and we are going to make 
sure that it is affordable and that more people can obtain it. If there 
is one thing to be fearful of, it is doing nothing. It is the status 
quo.
  Let me explain why. Every day in America 14,000 people lose their 
health insurance. That could be any one of us, for any of a number of 
reasons. We might lose our job, or our spouse might lose their job, and 
that means we can't have health insurance anymore.
  An insurance company can rescind your policy. They can walk away and 
say: Oh, by the way, 10 years ago when you signed up, you didn't 
mention that you had one blood test that was a little awry and, 
therefore, we are walking away from you.
  You may have a cap on your policy and reach that cap, because you 
didn't read the fine print and so you are out; it is over. Any one of 
us could be one of the 14,000 people who loses their health insurance.
  Now, that would not happen in the Senate. Oh no. Every one of my 
colleagues is protected because we have a system that, yes, is a public 
option, where the rules are made by the Federal Employees Health 
Benefits Program and people can't mistreat us. But for some reason, my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't seem to believe it is 
fair to give that kind of protection to ordinary families, so they are 
scaring people to death.
  So let me say again: If there is anything to be afraid of, it is 
doing nothing because you could be one of the 14,000 people--in my 
State about 1,400--who every day lose their insurance. Or, Mr. 
President, you could be one of the people who goes bankrupt because of 
a health care crisis. Sixty-two percent of bankruptcies in America 
today are directly linked to a health care crisis and most of those 
people have insurance. I repeat: Most of those people have insurance.
  I read a little story--I don't know if it is true--that Sarah Palin, 
the former Republican Vice Presidential nominee, said when she was 
young her family went to Canada to get their health care. I don't know 
if it is true, but I find it interesting if it is true. But here is the 
point: Doing nothing is not an option.
  Let me tell you what is happening. In California, a company--Anthem 
Insurance--has increased rates in the individual market by--hold on to 
your hat--29 percent. Imagine, 29 percent in one clip. This leads me to 
a study that was done by a nonpartisan group. That study showed what 
happens if we do nothing--which is, in fact, my Republican friends' 
idea because they say start over. Well, we started this under Teddy 
Roosevelt. It is time we acted. But this nonpartisan group said if we 
do nothing, the average cost of insurance would be 45 percent of a 
family's income by 2016. Imagine that. Yet my colleagues on the other 
side say: Well, if you go with the President's bill and the Democrats' 
bill, insurance rates will go up.
  The fact is, rates would not go up as much if you have the same 
policy. If you have a better policy, they may go up a little over time, 
but they are never going to be--never, never, never--45 percent of your 
income. There are two reasons for that: No. 1, we are going to watch 
insurance companies like a hawk, and that is the right thing to do. 
They are not selling us something that is a luxury. They are selling us 
a product that is a matter of life or death, and we ought to look over 
their shoulder a little more to make sure they are fair. So that is one 
reason.
  The other reason is, we are going to help people--the middle class--
families making up to $88,000 a year. We are going to make sure you get 
tax credits to help you pay for your premiums. That is a big deal. That 
is a good thing.

[[Page S1284]]

  So, remember, when the Republicans say: Be very afraid, don't be very 
afraid of reform, be very afraid of doing nothing. That is a reason to 
be very afraid.
  Then my Republican friends will say: They didn't take any of our 
ideas. Well, it turns out when the bill was being written in the 
Senate, well over 100 amendments--I think it was 160 amendments--of the 
Republicans were incorporated into the work of the HELP Committee. Oh, 
that is not good enough for them. We took 160 of their ideas, why can't 
they take an equal amount of our ideas? Why can't we work together, 
come to the table across party lines? It doesn't work that way.
  Then the President had them up for, I thought, a very instructive 
meeting, and the President took three or four more very big ideas of 
the Republicans--dealing with HSAs, dealing with medical malpractice, 
dealing with selling insurance across State lines, and a couple of 
other things. Yet they still say: It is not enough.
  Then they say: Be very afraid, people. Be very afraid because the 
Senate might do this with a majority vote. Well, I would suggest that 
all of us are here because we won a majority vote. I don't hear any of 
my colleagues suggesting we need 60 percent of the vote to win. We are 
here.
  I support minority rights very strongly, but there is a point where 
something turns and it becomes obstruction. I can't look into the faces 
of any of my constituents who are having all of these problems and tell 
them: I am sorry, I couldn't do anything even though we had a majority 
in the Senate.
  So they are scaring people about using a procedure they have used 
over the years. Out of 22 times, they have used the reconciliation 
procedure requiring a majority vote 16 times. I need to say that again. 
My Republican friends, who abhor the use of a majority rule, used it 16 
times out of the 22 times it was used, and mostly it was used for 
health care.
  Then they say: Oh, no; when we used it, it was for much smaller 
things. Well, no, I checked it out. The whole Reagan revolution was 
done by reconciliation--all the Bush tax cuts, health care and all. So 
the very slippery slope of their argument, whatever the argument of the 
day is, at the end of the day it is about scaring people. It is all 
about scaring people.
  So I am going to close with this. I am going to talk about the 8 or 
10 things that happened within 6 months to a year that this bill was 
signed into law--real things. For all new policies, you can keep your 
child on your policy until he or she is 27 years of age--27 years of 
age. I know a lot of people whose kids have been thrown off 
their policy. They may have had asthma, for example, and the insurance 
company says they have a preexisting condition and so they can get no 
insurance. We fix that in this bill.

  If you have a preexisting condition and you are an adult, and you 
can't get insurance, you can join a high-risk pool and get insurance 
very soon--within 90 days. If you run a small business that is 
struggling to find affordable health insurance, or you are self-
employed--and I have spoken to so many people in that situation in 
California--there will be many billions of dollars for small business 
and self-employed people in tax credits to help them get insurance.
  The President has also proposed increasing funding for community 
health centers by $11 billion so they can provide affordable, high-
quality care to even more families in need.
  There will be no preexisting conditions for children. If you have a 
child who has a preexisting condition, they still can get insured. I 
think about the story Harry Reid told about the couple who had full 
insurance, and the woman gave birth to a baby and the baby had a cleft 
palate. The couple was distraught, but the doctor said: Don't worry. We 
can fix that baby right up and no one is going to know there was a 
problem.
  So they wrote to their insurance company. You know what their 
insurance company said, even though they gave full coverage to that 
pregnant woman. They said: Your baby has a preexisting condition. You 
are out of luck.
  Mr. President, that is morally reprehensible. So if you want to be 
scared about something--and I don't believe in being scared about 
anything--be scared about the status quo. Be scared about what your 
insurers could do to you in today's world.
  What else will happen with this bill? Well, prevention is pretty much 
free. As soon as this bill is signed into law, you get to go to your 
doctor and get preventive treatment pretty much for free.
  If you are a senior and you are on a prescription drug plan, we are 
going to close that gap--that payment gap where you get to a certain 
level and then your insurance company stops paying until you reach yet 
another level. This creates the situation where at the time you need 
your medicine the most, it is not there for you. We are going to close 
that doughnut hole. By the way, that impacts 794,000 Californians. The 
President wants to give about $250 to help our seniors who fall into 
that doughnut hole right away.
  Also, there will be insurance reform. The minute this bill is signed 
into law, an insurance company must use 80 percent of their income on 
you--on the people who have insurance--not on them, not putting it in 
their pockets, not on these outrageous bonuses and paying their people 
millions of dollars. So 80 to 85 percent will have to go into the 
business of helping their people by expanding coverage or lowering 
premiums.
  There are a couple more things that will kick in--no more caps on new 
plans. I remember my husband and I once had a plan that had a cap. We 
didn't even know it, but somebody warned us and we realized it was a 
bad plan and there was a cap. I forget the amount, but it wasn't that 
high.
  Also, you will be protected from your insurance company walking away 
from you. No more rescissions in all new plans. There are other 
benefits to retirees. In 2014, we will have these exchanges, and you 
will be able to shop for the best insurance in an exchange online. It 
will be very clear.
  So we are moving in the right direction, Mr. President. At the end of 
the day, by the way, this bill saves money. Not only is it deficit 
neutral, it helps the deficit. Why? Because we take the fraud, waste, 
and abuse out of the system.
  My message to the people of this great country is, don't listen to 
the fear mongering. Learn the facts. Understand how life will be better 
if we move forward with this reform--but not in 3 years, right away. I 
think if we do that, and we realize we are going to do it in a way that 
actually reduces the deficit, there should be strong support for this 
bill.
  I hope we will be able to get to that day as we focus on getting this 
country on track: jobs, jobs, jobs. We also fix this problem of 
unaffordable health care, tenuous health care. It has to become 
something we can count on.
  I yield the floor and suggest 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. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________