[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 88 (Monday, June 14, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H4404-H4409]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HEALTH CARE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be
given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks into the
Record on this topic.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to anchor this
Special Order hour on health care for the Congressional Black Caucus.
Currently, the Congressional Black Caucus is chaired by the Honorable
Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California.
I would now yield to our chair, the Honorable Barbara Lee.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much. First, let me thank my
friend and colleague, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge of Ohio, for anchoring
tonight's Congressional Black Caucus Special Order on the immediate
benefits of health care reform. Also, let me just thank and salute
Congresswoman Fudge for her consistency and her commitment to hold
these Special Orders so that we can bring attention to some of the most
pressing issues confronting our country that often don't really make
the headlines. So I would especially like to thank Congresswoman Fudge
for leading tonight's Special Order once again on the immediate
benefits of health care reform and for continuing to keep our caucus
focused on addressing the key issues facing our Nation. She has many,
many of the same problems and issues in Ohio as I do in California, as
all of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus have, whether we
come from rural districts or urban districts. I just want to thank you
very much for your leadership and for once again sounding the alarm.
As chair of the 42-member Congressional Black Caucus, I rise tonight
to talk about the health care crisis in America and to inform the
American people about our actions and agenda working with President
Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Reid, and what we're doing to make us a
healthier and stronger Nation.
Since Teddy Roosevelt almost a century ago, President after President
has sought to deliver health care for the American people, but to no
avail. This year, under the leadership of President Obama and Speaker
Pelosi, the United States Congress took a major step toward delivering
on the promise of health care for all Americans in a comprehensive and
fiscally prudent way.
This is a very important investment in the health and wellness of all
Americans. For too long, quality and affordable health care, which I
believe is a fundamental human right, was way out of reach for far too
many Americans and was really the province of the wealthy or those who
were fortunate enough to have a job that provided health care benefits.
It was a very long and arduous struggle, but I am pleased that we
continued to push to reform our health care system. It took clarity of
purpose. It took moral authority. It took determination and commitment
of President Obama, the brilliant and focused leadership of Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and the will of the
majority of my colleagues in the House and the Senate, but most
importantly, the will of the American people to make this a reality.
Together, we fought against the insurance industry to say that we will
no longer, no longer mind you, be held hostage to the denial of
benefits for those who continue to pay their premiums. We won't be held
hostage any longer to escalating health care costs.
Just as Social Security was in the 1930s and with the passage of
Medicare and, of course, the civil rights and the voting rights acts of
the 1960s, the passage of health care reform is a defining moment of
our era, and I am so pleased that this happened on our watch.
As I cast my vote, I was thinking of all the people that I see in the
emergency rooms and in the hospitals when I'm there with my 86-year-old
mother or with my sister who has multiple sclerosis. They have health
care, but I worry so much about the people that I see who don't have
health care and who are just struggling to survive and who land in the
emergency room because they don't have primary care.
As I cast my vote, I was thinking of all of those who died, mind you,
because they didn't have preventive care and they couldn't see a doctor
and they died an early death.
[[Page H4405]]
I was also thinking about my children and my grandchildren and future
generations of Americans who will now live longer and will now live
healthier lives because of the legislation we passed. I am so glad that
this happened on our watch.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus worked tirelessly to ensure
that this bill holds insurance companies accountable and included a
number of cost-saving provisions. We were vocal advocates for
provisions in the bill to combat health disparities, illnesses and
diseases that disproportionately affect low-income and communities of
color.
This bill is a win for all Americans because it makes us a stronger
and healthier Nation. It contains many immediate benefits that
Americans will begin to realize before the end of this year. In fact,
just last week, thousands of senior citizens trapped into the doughnut
hole prescription drug coverage, they began receiving a one-time, tax-
free check for $250. These checks will continue to be mailed over the
next several months as seniors enter the coverage gap, with an
estimated 4 million seniors receiving this relief. Beginning next year,
seniors will get a 50 percent discount on prescription drugs if they
are in this doughnut hole.
Additionally, if you are between the ages of 55 and 64 and thinking
of taking an early retirement over the next few years--and many in, I
know, my age group are thinking about this--but if you're in that age
group and if your employer provides extended coverage, we create a
temporary insurance program to help protect your coverage and to reduce
premiums for you and your employer.
If you currently have private insurance, either purchased
individually or through your employer, by September of this year all
new plans will be prevented from denying coverage to children with
preexisting conditions, dropping your health care coverage if you get
sick--I mean, this is mind-boggling to think that you pay your premiums
for health care and then the insurance companies can drop it if you get
sick. My God, just for that reason alone everyone should have voted for
this bill. It will take the lifetime cap on the amount of coverage you
can receive away. Also, in addition, new plans will also be required to
cover preventive services so that you don't have to pay a copay, and
the cost of the service will be exempt from consideration as part of
your deductible. This is a big deal.
It will set up an accountable and effective internal and external
appeals process to allow you to challenge arbitrary decisions made by
your health insurance company. I know my family, myself, my
constituents, they get jerked around many, many times by insurance
companies. They get put through so many changes. They have to jump
through so many hoops just to find that their claims have been denied.
Well, no more of that.
The plans on the individual market, we also tightly regulate the use
of annual coverage limits and then move to full prohibition of such
limits by 2014. 2014 seems like a long time, but it's really not, and
so the steps that we're taking between now and 2014 I think are going
to immediately help those who need this type of help.
Within one year of enactment, by next March, insurance companies will
also have to ensure that they are spending at least 80 percent of the
premiums that they collect from the individual market and 85 percent of
premiums collected from large group market plans on actual health
services. That would, for the first time, guarantee that insurance
companies can't raise premiums just to provide huge salaries and
bonuses to their CEOs. They actually need to ensure that they are being
used to provide health care for people. Most people believe that that's
what they're paying for, that's health care, not to provide these huge
CEO salaries, and so finally we're going to begin to do the right
thing.
If you're a small business owner, let me just say, with less than 50
employees, you will never have any obligation under this bill. You
won't be required to buy health coverage for your workers, and you
won't pay a penalty if you don't provide health care coverage,
regardless of what you heard during the debate. This is a fact. But if
you do provide health care and if you are a small business, you will
get a tax credit this year up to 35 percent of the cost of your share
of the insurance premium. If you continue to provide health care to
your employees, then by 2014 you will receive a tax credit of up to 50
percent of your premium contribution. Believe you me, as a former small
business owner, I know how important this is. Requirements on
businesses that are larger than 50 people do not kick in until 2014.
That's plenty of time to get ready for this. That's when we will
actually provide those subsidies to people that might not have coverage
and when the national- and State-based health exchanges are officially
launched. That's in 2014.
Now, if you're uninsured right now as a young person and maybe you're
just looking for a job or between jobs, and if you are younger than 26
years of age and if your parents have insurance, then you will be, of
course, added to their insurance plan, and it's like your parents won't
have to drop you from their plan until you are 26.
If you are uninsured because you have a preexisting condition--and
mind you, we learned during this debate that, unfortunately, victims of
domestic violence--domestic violence was a preexisting condition. Can
you believe that? Just being a woman had been a preexisting condition
until now. That's shocking and pretty disgusting, really.
{time} 2015
So, once again, if you have a preexisting condition, nobody, mind
you, no company will be able to deny you your benefits, but you don't
qualify for Medicare. If you don't qualify for Medicare or Medicaid,
then you will be eligible to buy into a temporary high-risk pool at the
State level, which will price coverage at the average going rate in
each State. These temporary high-risk pools will continue to offer
coverage through 2014, until the subsidies and the exchanges kick in.
So there are immediate benefits.
By no means is this a perfect bill--or a perfect law. We're so
accustomed to saying ``bill.'' This is a law, and we were working so
hard on the legislation. Some people really think that it is hard to
believe that this was signed into law, but this is a law now.
No doubt it has flaws. Many of us would have preferred--me
personally, I would have preferred a single-payer system. I think my
constituents would have preferred a single-payer system or at least a
strong public option which we're going to continue to pay for because
we have to have some kind of a competitive program so that insurance
companies can begin to bring their costs down.
However, this bill offers virtually every important advance for
health care that we could make at this point, making coverage more
affordable and expanding access to much-needed services. This was a
good bill. It is now a good law that will have real impact in the lives
of millions of Americans. But it was a foundation. It was just the
beginning, so we have to continue to fight and to make sure that any of
the provisions that weren't included get included.
I just have to say this in closing: This law does not discriminate
between Republicans who don't have any insurance, Democrats who have no
insurance or who pay too much for their insurance coverage, or tea
party activists, Independents; it does not discriminate against anyone
with any political affiliation. Whether your Member of Congress voted
for this bill or not, you will benefit from this bill.
Each and every American soon will learn that this is not a government
takeover. It is not socialized medicine. And due to the hard work and
commitment of Democrats, we will finally bring the United States of
America into the column of industrialized nations, mind you, which
provide affordable and accessible health care for all. This, my
colleagues, I think is a remarkable step in the right direction. And so
I have to just thank all of those who voted for the bill and thank
President Obama for signing it into law. And I want to thank the
Congressional Black Caucus, especially our Health Task Force, led by
our physician, Congresswoman Dr. Donna Christensen, who really fought
each and every day to make sure that we expanded community clinics,
ensured that we begin to close these health disparities in communities
of color, that our minority medical schools finally receive
[[Page H4406]]
some equity in terms of the ability to train more minority medical
professionals. So this was a big deal. It is going to kick in over the
years up until 2014, but I think that the American people will see why
this was well worth fighting for.
Once again, it doesn't matter whether you're a Democrat or a
Republican or a tea party activist or an Independent, or whomever, you
will benefit from it whether your Member voted for it or not.
Thank you again, Congresswoman Fudge, for your leadership. And thanks
to the Congressional Black Caucus for being such strong advocates for
health care reform.
Ms. FUDGE. Madam Chair, we would like to thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I think that there is probably no one in this caucus who
fought harder to get this bill passed. Our Chair, Representative Lee,
is one of the hardest working Members of this entire body. She has
vision and leadership. And most of all, she has courage.
We want to thank you for being our leader. We thank you very much.
Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to my friend who has joined us
and has always been a consistent voice for the people of this country,
the gentlewoman from Texas, Sheila Jackson Lee.
Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I thank my colleague from Ohio very much,
and I am delighted to be able to join her, and as well my chairwoman of
the Congressional Black Caucus and other Members who I know have a
great interest in this area of reminding the American people of the
great strides that we have made in the passing of this outstanding new
attitude for health care in America. It is long overdue, and it was an
enormous struggle.
I can remember that weekend of March 2010 and the week that led up to
it and the days that we stayed over on Saturday to gather our resources
and to continue to work and to push, working and ensuring that the
Senate would bring the bill over to the House so on that Sunday, we
could cast a vote for what has to be a monumental change in American
life and will go down as a monumental move in American history.
Just a few minutes ago, I had the privilege of listening to our
Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary Vilsack, and he reminded us of how
diverse America is. Rural America, for example, with all of its needs
and all of its specialness--of course, just on the floor of the House,
we stood in silence to acknowledge the loss of lives in rural Arkansas
in a terrible flooding. And then he expressed the inequity in terms of
poverty in some of our rural communities and the need for investment in
that community. And I would venture to say that alongside of that
investment, this health care bill, which as our chairwoman just said,
it is not respective of region or what party you're in or who
represents your district; you will have access to health care. That
means that many of the rural Americans, some of whom scratch their
survival out of the earth, some of whom are still tenant farmers, some
may have small family farms, and many of them have sacrificed to invest
in those farms and have probably ignored the need for health care
because of the cost. Now we have that opportunity to ensure that those
Americans, hardworking Americans who put bread on our table, have the
ability to provide for their family.
The Secretary made mention of the fact of the First Lady's commitment
to, in essence, stamping out obesity, particularly in our children.
This health care bill provides for preventative measures, preventative
care, and a focus on nutrition and an emphasis on helping children,
something long overdue. And it compliments the First Lady's effort and
the Secretary of Agriculture's acknowledging that we must have healthy
foods, for example, in our school cafeterias to make healthy children.
But at the same time, it is important to note that that child who may
be obese as we speak should have access to some form of health care.
Now, with the passage of this health care bill, that child will have
that opportunity to have a better life, a healthier life, to have a
nutrition plan--we don't like to call plans for children diets, but a
good healthy nutrition plan that can be governed by their family
practitioner now or their pediatrician, to which they will have access,
either through the National Exchange or through health care that now
this family farm or their family can purchase.
Just a week or so ago, during Memorial Day week, I had the privilege
of announcing a $1 million grant that was to allow an inner city
hospital--the only African American hospital in the State of Texas, and
one of very few in the Nation--to receive a grant to servicemembers and
their families, active duty servicemembers and their families for PTSD,
post-traumatic stress disorder. We know that is a prominent and
prevalent condition that many of our soldiers are coming back from Iraq
and Afghanistan and have been impacted by that.
But what about mental health and the need for mental health care
across America that people who have had mental health concerns have
literally suffered because we never had parity in our health care
insurance coverage? It has never been required federally until
recently. The legislation, of course, shepherded by the late Senator
Ted Kennedy, and our friend and colleague, his son, Patrick Kennedy.
But for so many years, we did not have mental parity; insurance
companies could ignore it. Just think if you would ignore the
servicemen and their families who are impacted by post-traumatic stress
disorder.
Well, many Americans feel isolated with mental health concerns and
not being able to access good care. This health care bill turns a
corner on mental health care, and I want to say to the American public
that physical illness has no position to be raised up over a mental
health condition. There should be no stigma, and you should have access
to as good a care for a physical ailment, a broken arm, an upset
stomach, diabetes, kidney disease, terrible diseases, of course, but
you should equally have access to mental health care. Well, this health
care bill allows that to happen, and I think that that is a step
forward for the American people.
It's good to note that families who have raised children who are now
entering the work world or looking for work and coming out of college,
used to be an enormous burden of, how do I care for my child when they
have aged out of my insurance? Well, now we have the opportunity for
them to remain on the insurance until 26. But let me give an
admonition--and I think this is going to be important for the Congress
to do. In the legislation, there are several oversight provisions in
the bill--in fact, our own Congressional Black Caucus, working with
Congresswoman Edwards and some others, were very insistent on making
sure that the raising of the cost did not inappropriately or unfairly
burden middle class, upper middle class Americans, just by the nature
of who it falls on.
But the other aspect of it is, the rumor is that if insurance
companies are required to keep children on until they're 26, that ugly
word of ``increased cost'' is going to rise. What I would say is that
we need to pay attention to the actuarial tables and the database that
suggest how many times a 26-year-old or under utilizes health care and
not let insurance companies just willy-nilly on their own regard, on
their own basis make the determination, well, they're giving me
something to do, I'm going to raise the cost, because that's what
people are afraid of. We have to say to the American public, we're
going to be your watchdog in the United States Congress and ensure that
that doesn't happen.
Let me also take note of the federally qualified health care clinic.
I'm excited about that. I debated this some years before when we were
talking about trying to put more funding into the legislation to
increase the number of federally qualified health clinics even before
this health care bill because for a long time, these clinics were not
even known about. But the idea to be able to walk out your front door
and walk down your block and go to a health care facility that is not
an emergency room will make an enormous difference on the healthiness
of Americans, preventative care.
Right now I am, in my community, assessing different locations in my
congressional district that a federally qualified health clinic would
be suitable; the population, the partnership, 501(C)(3)s, and
petitioners who would
[[Page H4407]]
want that to be in their neighborhood. I'm excited about it. And I'm
excited about the Martin Luther King Center. That is a health clinic
that I helped fund so many years ago when their doors were about to
close. They are not only open today, but they have sprung two more
Federally qualified clinics in order to be able to serve the public.
This is a good investment.
As was indicated earlier, our small businesses will finally be able
to spell the word relief, r-e-l-i-e-f. They will be able to say, I will
be able to not only pay for the owners, but my employees will be able
to get insurance, and that is a great mechanism. And we should not let
anyone, in essence, dump on our parade. We should not let anyone
miscalculate or mischaracterize, if you will, how much of an impact the
small business tax exemption will be for those small businesses to
allow them to be able to provide health insurance for their employees.
{time} 2030
Small businesses are the backbone of America. They are probably the
largest employers of the American economy. They want to provide
insurance for those mothers and fathers who work for them every day,
who are committed and dedicated--sometimes they are mothers and fathers
with family businesses--and now they will be able to do so, and I
believe that is very important.
The doughnut hole was the most horrific vote that was taken here in
the United States Congress some years ago, which was for Medicare part
D. We lasted on the floor of the House until 6 o'clock because our
friends on the other side of the aisle could not get a vote until they
squeezed it out of some of our colleagues. It was horrific. For those
who don't understand it, it means that you pay for your prescription
drugs, which are going through the roof, until you, as a senior, fall
in the hole because you've gotten a catastrophic illness, and they will
wind up paying for you. What an atrocity. We're going to close that
hole in the next 2 years.
As well, right now, seniors should be receiving $250 checks in their
hands. We recognize the undermining of your health care because of
Medicare part D. First of all, it was unrealistically expensive, and
certainly, it was a plan that we Democrats have indicated was a wrong-
headed decision. Obviously, we have been proven right. Part of our
deficit, which was spoken so loudly about by the other side of the
aisle, was caused by Medicare part D, and the large majority of our
party, our caucus, voted against it. Really, it was a wrong-headed
direction to take.
Here is another negative that the naysayers would say: well, you can
hardly get into doctors' offices today. How are you going to get into
their offices now? They're standing in line. I'm afraid that I'm not
going to be able to see a doctor.
They were scaring seniors with that kind of information. Well, I
think that when people are inclined to serve, there is a great deal of
love and affection for the medical profession. Yet one of the reasons
we don't have the numbers is that we have not been able to give people
opportunities. It is very expensive training, so we will be engaged in
providing resources to train nurses, nurse practitioners, and
physicians. We will actually have resources to give young people who
want to go into that profession.
I spoke at the High School for Health Professions in my district.
They have a diverse student body, but many of them are not going into
the health profession. Yet many are, and more would if they had the
resources to do so. So we are excited about that.
As I focus on closing on some of these points, let me quickly bring
something in that you might not think is related to the health care
bill, but it is. The BP oil spill is plaguing the gulf coast. More
importantly, there is human devastation, if you will. There is the
devastation of not working in the shrimping, fishing and oyster
industries. There are some energy industry workers who are now not
working as well. All of those individuals were probably living off
their salaries or off the revenue that they brought in day to day and
month to month. I would imagine that some of those individuals did not
have health insurance. They might have even been paying a fee for
service because they made choices of putting money into businesses as
opposed to into health care. Well, now we have an opportunity for these
individuals, if they are at risk, to either go into a high-risk pool or
to prospectively be able to go into a health exchange to be able to get
the most cost-effective health insurance that they might be able to
get.
With that in mind, I would like to indict, if you will, those States
for refusing to get into the health exchange program, like my State,
which has the highest number of uninsured, as evidenced by Dr. Oz, who
came to Houston, but also as evidenced by the data that says that Texas
needs opportunities for people to be insured. So I would hope that we
would have the kind of energy and excitement around this idea of the
health exchange so that States would have to engage in it because the
people would rise up and would say that they wanted it.
Of course, under this bill, hospitals which have been facing
increasing costs with no compensation now will have the opportunity to
be paid for uncompensated care. We hope those numbers will go down now
because, obviously, if they go down, it will mean more people will have
gotten their own insurance; but just in case, these hospitals will have
that.
I want to close on these last two points which I think are unique to
the Congressional Black Caucus. One is to express great applause to the
CBC Health Care Task Force with Dr. Donna Christensen and to the Tri-
Caucus health effort, because out of that effort came the very
important language on disparities or on the continuing work on
disparities that we see amongst our minority population, such as with
regard to diabetes, kidney failure, heart failure, and such as with
regard to devastating breast cancer. These are elements that are
clearly as a result of disparities that were not addressed, and I think
we will see more opportunities for clinicals where minorities will be
used so we will be able to find causes and will begin to find cures for
some of these devastating diseases in the minority community.
Lastly, our work is yet unfinished. I worked very hard on the issue
of physician-owned hospitals. Many of us thought that the passage of
the bill was worthy of our looking down the road and of our making sure
that we would cure that problem. It is a serious problem because these
hospitals were stigmatized as hospitals that were all for-profit and
not for service. I know for a fact that the hospitals that are in the
State of Texas which hire or which have at least 40,000-plus employees
are serving their constituents with OB/GYN and with full service care.
One of the hospitals in my district was the only hospital that had a
wing dedicated to H1N1 when it was rampant here in the United States.
I am looking forward to the leaders of these hospitals having the
opportunity to come back to Washington to sit down with our leadership
and to talk about making sure that these hospitals are not
discriminated against as it relates to Medicare reimbursement. Some
language allows that to happen in the bill, but it is a very peculiar
formula that may not match all of the needs of the constituents who
need to be taken care of by these hospitals.
So I thank the distinguished gentlelady from Ohio for her constant
leadership. She has a great medical community in Cleveland, a community
that certainly was engaged in this process of putting together this
very, very strong health care reform bill, historic in its own efforts;
and I thank her for her leadership.
My final words are: it is never easy to make hard decisions. We said
that as we debated and as we compared this to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
and to the 1965 Voting Rights Act. There were many in their home
districts who threatened them for taking that vote. Where would America
be today if we had not taken the strides to break down the shackles of
discrimination to allow all Americans to vote? I hope and I pray and I
believe that we will have the same opportunity to look back on history
in 2010 and will be able to say how we have changed the lives of
Americans and how we have saved the lives of Americans.
With that, I yield back to the gentlelady, and I thank her again for
her leadership.
[[Page H4408]]
Ms. FUDGE. I thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to again thank my friend and colleague,
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, for her insight and for her
knowledge, obviously, of the bill as well as for her ability to connect
with the American people.
I thank you for joining me this evening. It is always my pleasure.
Mr. Speaker, again tonight, we are going to focus on the benefits of
the health care reform that Americans are experiencing today. When it
comes to health care reform, what is now called the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act, I truly believe history will show those of us
who supported it did the right thing, and we are already seeing
evidence that our courageous act is positively impacting Americans.
I am extremely proud that Congress took the task of closing the
doughnut hole for seniors. The doughnut hole has, in many instances,
become the black hole because, for some seniors, the uncovered
prescription costs never end. Fortunately, that is about to change.
Beginning in 2011, seniors in the doughnut hole will receive a 50
percent discount on prescription drugs. By 2020, the doughnut hole will
be completely closed. I know that many seniors cannot afford to wait.
To ease the burden, Medicare recipients will automatically receive
onetime $250 checks to help them with prescription costs. Some of those
checks have already been received. I know that this is a modest step,
but it is the beginning of our commitment to improve Medicare for our
seniors, and I am very happy to see that it has started helping some of
the 97,000 seniors in my congressional district who receive Medicare.
Making prescription drugs more affordable for seniors is only one of
the many benefits for seniors included in the recently enacted health
reform law.
Other benefits for seniors include free preventative care services.
So, if you need screenings or if you want your physical examinations,
all of those things become free, and all of those things become free
under Medicare beginning in 2011. Extended funding for Medicare is
going to be there through 2029. There is going to be increased access
to doctors, and we will have expanded home- and community-based
services to keep seniors in their homes instead of in nursing homes.
I am also pleased that Americans without insurance and those who have
been denied insurance due to preexisting conditions can now sign up for
immediate access to health coverage. This will be done through a
temporary high-risk pool until the exchanges are up and running in
2014. This will be a great relief for Americans.
Small businesses are receiving tax credits to assist in providing
employees with health coverage. As a result of the health care reform,
the Federal Government now offers tax credits of up to 35 percent of
the employer premium contributions for those small businesses that
choose to offer coverage. Beginning in 2014, those tax credits will
increase to up to 50 percent of employer premium contributions.
Beginning in September of this year, of 2010, just in time for the
start of the fall semester for college, young adults will be able to
remain on their parents' insurance plans until age 26. The best part is
any young adult without employer-provided insurance will be able to
remain on their parents' insurance plans up to age 26. The young adults
need not be enrolled in college. He or she does not even have to live
in the same State as his or her parents. Parents only need to contact
their health insurance companies to enroll their children.
Also, our young adults, including former foster youth, will be able
to pursue their educations and start their careers without the fear of
unexpected medical bills hanging over their heads. Finally, these young
people will have access to medical care without fear that they will
have bills they cannot afford.
Further, Mr. Speaker, in September, we will also respond to the needs
of younger children. Beginning on September 23, the unfair and
discriminatory practice of denying children health care due to
preexisting conditions will end. No more will insurance companies
determine that children who face medical hardship don't deserve
affordable health care. No more will private industry decide which
children deserve care and which do not.
I held multiple town halls on health care prior to the passage of the
bill, and I was moved by the many stories I heard. One in particular
came from a father who was barely able to afford health care for his
son who suffers from sickle cell anemia. The insurance company found
sickle cell to be a preexisting condition, and as such, the only
insurance he could find was astronomical in price. He could not afford
it. I am proud that this Congress remedied the situation for this
father, who only wanted to give his son a shot at a healthy future.
On September 23, insurance companies will be banned from capping the
amount of money they will spend on a patient's care. One of my
constituents, whom I will call Mary, is especially excited about this
particular provision. Mary has been paying for health care insurance,
as well as for catastrophic health care insurance, for many years. She
does this in case she hits the lifetime limit. She saw her own brother,
who has brain cancer and no health insurance, inundated with medical
bills well in excess of $60,000. She lived in fear that that might
happen to her, so she wanted to be sure that she was prepared. Just out
of fear that an unpreventable or unexpected illness will force her into
financial hardship, she prefers to be safe rather than sorry. Mary has
maintained a policy with a $25,000 deductible--yes, I did say a $25,000
deductible--just to be sure she doesn't fall into medical bankruptcy.
For her, the countdown for September 23 can't come soon enough.
Beginning on October 1, there will be increases in funding for
community health centers to allow for nearly doubling the number of
patients served over the next 5 years. For those in Ohio, you can find
a community health center near you just by calling 211. There will be
scholarships for medical students. There will be new scholarships for
loan repayment programs that will be available for doctors, for nurses
and for other health care providers who work in underserved areas. To
those listening in the 11th District at home, to find a scholarship,
visit National Health Service Corps' Web site at nhsc.hrsa.gov. Again,
that is nhsc.hrsa.gov.
{time} 2045
Next year, in 2011, a public option for long-term care insurance will
become available. Further, in 2011, insurance companies will be
required to spend 80 to 85 percent of all premiums received on patient
care or provide a rebate to customers. Insurance companies can no
longer just take inordinate sums of money and put them in their pocket
and have nothing to show for the care that they have given to the
people who have paid these premiums. Now they must spend at least 80 to
85 percent on care. In 2011, Medicare patients will receive free
preventive care.
As President Obama rightly noted, passing health care reform is just
the first step. Implementing it in an effective, accountable way is now
the challenge and our goal. I am honored and privileged to have voted
for health care. We need to remind ourselves reform was necessary and
why we fought so hard to insure all Americans.
I want to share the story of a constituent who was diagnosed with
cancer when he was almost 15 years of age. This young man--we will call
him Steve--should have been worrying about getting his driver's license
or what he was going to wear to the homecoming dance or excelling in
school. Instead, he was concerned for his very basic survival. Steve
and his family were told he only had a 15 percent chance of living
because he had a softball-sized tumor which had grown in his ribcage
and into his spine. Luckily for Steve, he lived in the Cleveland area.
He was being treated at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in
Cleveland, which is one of the leading pediatric hospitals in the
world. Rainbow Babies is a world-class facility and cares for patients
around the world.
The doctors, nurses, and support staff at Rainbow worked miracles on
this young man. He had intense chemotherapy and spine surgery, which
shrank and ultimately removed the tumor. His bones, which had been
eaten away by the aggressive cancer, were replaced with titanium rods.
And he started on an 8-week path to learn how to walk again, a
remarkable feat
[[Page H4409]]
which, at 15 years of age, is something that few would have the
emotional and mental maturity to handle, let alone the physical
capacity.
Despite the expert care, continuing radiation, and chemotherapy, it
was not enough to prevent the relapse that occurs to a majority of
patients diagnosed with this cancer. Within 4 months, Steve had to
repeat the process of removing yet another tumor. The tumor was removed
by Rainbow Babies. Thankfully, this particular type of cancer did not
return.
Steve would go on with his studies and graduate high school and stay
close to home and go to John Carroll University in University Heights.
His life was starting to get back on track, especially for an 18-year-
old. He was still worrying about school but adjusting to college life
and figuring out what it means to be a young adult. But just as Steve
had started his new life, he received devastating news. He was
diagnosed with a new and different type of cancer called acute myeloid
leukemia, or AML. AML is a blood cancer that required him to have a
bone marrow transplant. An anonymous donor and doctors at Rainbow saw
him through a successful operation. And thanks to them and the
resilience of his family, Steve is now a robust young adult, physically
and mentally ready for the challenges that come to college students.
The story of Steve's resilience and his doctors' skill and
persistence is a heroic one that can serve as inspiration to all of us.
But what makes this story most notable was that much of it was done
without the basic protections that should be guaranteed to minors by
health insurance.
Steve had exceeded his lifetime insurance limit during his third bout
of cancer and, as a full-time student, he was ineligible for his
parents' insurance. Steve sums up his own feelings about health care
reform with this quote. He says, If you voted for the health reform
bill, thank you, because for other kids, teens, and young adults like
me, you solved two problems this year: one to prevent insurance
companies from having lifetime maximums, and allowing young adults and
teens to remain on their parents' coverage until age 26, even if they
are not enrolled in postsecondary education.
A story like this, Mr. Speaker, will never need to be repeated again
in this Chamber, and that's because of health care reform. I am, again,
proud to have been one of the persons who voted in this House to save
the lives of so many.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.
____________________