[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 18941-18942]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THE NATION'S ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, the House has taken little note of what is 
happening to the economy. Millions of Americans, however, are clamoring 
for our attention, and our increasing economic distress, I am not 
surprised that the House takes little interest in the unemployed. Poor 
people must live on another planet, not in the United States.
  But there has been a recent wake-up call that spreads deep into the 
middle class, and that is recently released figures on a 2-year decline 
in the number of uninsured after what had been some steadiness. Recent 
figures show a decline in health care coverage among many working 
Americans. I think the Washington Post says it best: There is new 
evidence that a weakened economy is having adverse ripple effects on 
ordinary people.
  What we see is a drop in the proportion of people who have health 
benefits. That is usually working Americans who have gotten them as a 
result of their employment. At the same time, we are seeing a mediocre 
rise in health insurance costs, up 12.7 percent this year, and then, of 
course, there is the completely unsustainable increase in prescription 
drug prices at twice the rate of inflation. All of these health care 
indicators at the same time show the kind of distress that urgently 
needs our attention.
  Much of the drop in health insurance costs comes from small 
businesses, 10 percent of it in the last 2 years, but that is where the 
jobs are. That is where people with health insurance are, and if we 
want some indication that we are now striking at the heart of our 
economy, we need only look at the fact that most of those who have lost 
their health insurance are working men.

[[Page 18942]]

  Of course, the population that is most without health insurance in 
our country today are Latinos. A third of Latinos have no health 
insurance benefits.
  What the statistics do not show, Mr. Speaker, however, is where the 
greatest effect is, I believe, being held, and that is the shift in 
health care costs from the employer to the employee. When an employer 
cannot sustain the cost of health benefits anymore, and he shifts to 
his employee, then we have what in effect is a cost in pay and a 
lowering of the standard of living, and we know that is what has 
occurred because 2 weeks ago the Census Bureau reported that the 
household incomes fell 2.2 percent.
  We have not paid any attention in this House to the very rapid 
increase in unemployment because it started so low, from 3.9 percent 2 
years ago to 5.7 percent today. We cannot let it continue to rise that 
fast. Now we see really the fatal indicator, the health insurance 
indicator.
  This House is about to go home with token health to seniors on 
prescription drugs, which leaves most of them exactly where they were 
before that pittance of a bill passed. We have an equally dangerous 
indicator left on the table, left to fester, and that one is one we 
should have learned in the past to take note of, and that is the urgent 
loss of health care benefits to millions of Americans who had them this 
time last year, who had them this time 6 months ago, who are afraid 
more of the loss of health care benefits than they are of the loss of 
employment. We ought to be very, very careful about going home and 
leaving people without health insurance.

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