[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 41 (Friday, March 19, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1716-H1717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, after hearing the hysterics of my 
Republican colleagues over the last several days, I was reminded of the 
adage I've heard about the legal profession. It said that if you have 
the facts, pound on the facts. If you have the law, pound on the law. 
But if you have neither the facts nor the law, pound on the table.
  I give my Republican colleagues credit for doing a remarkable job of 
pounding on the table for the last few months. I've heard my colleagues 
saying outlandish things about how we're doing violence to the 
Constitution and sticking our fingernails in the eyes of the American 
public. But it's all an elaborate distraction from what the real debate 
is about. What we're talking about is what happens when you don't have 
health insurance.
  I heard a story last week that I think gets to the heart of what 
we're doing and why we're doing it. It's about a family of five, 
including a newborn child, that's going through a rough patch. When the 
baby was born, the mother's employer didn't offer her maternity leave, 
so she was unable to earn an income. When the father's entire drywall 
crew was laid off because there was simply no work, the family lost 
their income, aside from the unemployment benefits her husband 
received. All five of them had to move into a relative's living room. 
And when stress and strain caused the mother to stop producing breast 
milk, she had to buy formula that she couldn't afford.

[[Page H1717]]

  So she applied to get some supplemental food benefits under the WIC 
program, which comes only once a month. When those benefits ran out, 
she went to the office for more help, and they said there was none. 
Without additional support, she was forced to dilute the formula with 
water, causing the baby to become malnourished. As a result of 
malnourishment, the baby developed something called starvation 
diarrhea, a very serious and very painful illness. When the baby's 
parents took her to the hospital, her diarrhea had become so severe 
that she was treated in the same way as people with severe burns. She 
stayed in the hospital for 10 days. Remember, this is a family with 
parents who worked, whose baby was born healthy, who had health 
insurance. They simply fell victim to this economy.
  I read another article recently about an insurance company called 
Fortis, one of the largest in the country. Fortis designed a computer 
program that would automatically flag any policyholder with HIV-AIDS 
and trigger an automatic fraud investigation. Knowing the treatment was 
expensive, the executives were looking for anything they could use to 
revoke health insurance policies for people with HIV. Then, when 
nothing turned up, they would essentially invent a reason.
  Now I know everyone in this room has at least 20 stories like this. 
And after hearing just one of them, I can't understand how anyone with 
a conscience can stand in the way of reform for one second. I've sat in 
this Chamber and listened to hours of foolishness and nonsense about 
what this bill will allegedly do. Despite being deafened by a year's 
worth of Republicans banging on the table, I'm thrilled we're going to 
get a chance to vote on a health care reform bill that will help 
millions of Americans. Eighty years from now, like the 80 years ago 
when Social Security passed, 80 years into the future people will look 
back at this as the bill that helped them take a sick child to the 
doctor. They'll look back and be shocked that there was a time when 
insurance companies were allowed to deny health coverage--even to 
children--just because they were sick, because they had a preexisting 
condition. And they'll be appalled that anyone would refuse to vote for 
this bill for no other reason than political grandstanding or trying to 
gain political advantage in the next election.
  When we hit 216 votes on Sunday, I'm going to be proud that we will 
be helping millions of Americans right now and here in this day but 
also generations that are yet to come. A country is judged by how it 
handles the people who are least able to care for themselves. And when 
you're sick and you don't have health insurance and your country says, 
We don't care--go to the emergency room, that's your health care. Stand 
in an 8-hour line, that's your health care. We're going to change that 
on Sunday.

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