[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 129 (Thursday, July 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S5039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        Medicaid Saves Lives Act

  Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, since my first day here in the Senate--
and even before that--one of the issues I have been working to address 
is how my own home State of Georgia, where State leaders have been 
digging in their heels, refusing to expand Medicaid--how it is that 
citizens can somehow provide affordable healthcare to their families--
nearly 500,000 Georgians who are uninsured. They are in the Medicaid 
gap.
  That is why last week I introduced the Medicaid Saves Lives Act, 
legislation that would create a program almost identical to Medicaid 
that is administered by the Federal Government and would allow people 
in States like Georgia who have not expanded Medicaid, an alternative 
path to health coverage because we know that Medicaid literally saves 
lives.
  I was proud to introduce this legislation with my colleagues Senators 
Baldwin and Ossoff and that it has the support of healthcare 
stakeholders in Georgia and from across the country. Entities like the 
Georgia Hospital Association and the Grady Health System understand how 
expanding Medicaid in Georgia will improve health outcomes across the 
State, strengthen our rural hospitals and healthcare workforce, and 
create good-paying jobs.
  Medicaid saves lives and also saves jobs. As it turns out, the right 
thing to do is also the smart thing to do. And so I am glad that this 
plan is on its way to being included in the forthcoming economic 
package, and I am going to do everything I can to keep pushing to make 
sure that it happens.
  But today, I come to the Senate floor to talk not so much about 
policy as much as to talk about the people behind the policy efforts 
that we lift up. We should always endeavor to see the human face of the 
public policy we put forward.
  So I want to talk today about Cynthia English. She is a truckdriver 
in Albany, GA. It is a town in the southern rural part of our State. 
Cynthia turns 46 in just a few days. Her birthday, actually, is this 
coming Saturday.
  Happy birthday, Cynthia.
  Cynthia, a hard-working woman, suffers from diabetes and 
hypertension. She says that she has previously applied for Medicaid and 
other healthcare programs but has been repeatedly denied because she 
does not have any children. She does not have any dependents. So she 
has been denied, in spite of her relatively low income. She is in the 
coverage gap.
  She says that those denials made her feel like she couldn't get any 
type of help. In fact, Cynthia says that in the past, her diabetes and 
her blood pressure have had her in ``real bad shape,'' so much so that 
complications with her diabetes once sent her to the emergency room.
  Think about the cost of that for her and for all of us, unable to get 
the kind of routine care that all of us need but especially if you have 
a chronic illness like hypertension or diabetes. It doesn't make sense 
for her or for us that she is in this situation. Without health 
insurance, Cynthia says she couldn't go to the doctor and that, due to 
the cost, it was hard to pay for medication. To put it bluntly, as 
Cynthia said, when you are sick in Georgia, ``they still really don't 
help you if you don't have any health insurance or Medicaid.''
  Thankfully, Cynthia was able to find the Good Samaritan Clinic in 
Albany. As a pastor, I have to say that is a good name for a clinic, 
the Good Samaritan Clinic, in Albany. It offers healthcare to people 
like her in the coverage gap. She has been able to receive care for her 
conditions, including a pinched nerve in her neck and back caused by 
sciatica, another condition that went undiagnosed for far too long 
because of her lack of health insurance.
  If it wasn't for the Good Samaritan Clinic, Cynthia says she wouldn't 
be here. But it is still not enough--grateful for them, but that is not 
enough. That clinic does amazing work, but that is not enough.
  In other States, Cynthia would be eligible for Medicaid. According to 
Cynthia, having additional support provided by Medicaid would help her 
pay for her medications and get all the care that she needs. A hard-
working woman, doing all the right things, cannot get the coverage that 
she needs.
  So behind the public policy, we have to remember the stories of real 
people, people like Cynthia, because there are millions of Cynthias in 
Georgia and across our Nation who need the Medicaid Saves Lives Act. 
Until we get this done, I am going to keep lifting up Cynthia's story 
and the stories of other Georgians who would benefit from this critical 
lifesaving legislation
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). The Senator from Alaska.