[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21275]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     SKYROCKETING HEALTH CARE COSTS

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, in Sunday's Chicago Sun Times, they had a 
headline noting the skyrocketing health care costs in America and how 
they were punishing consumers and businesses. One out of ten Illinois 
businesses are now looking at cutting their health care totally to 
their employees. We have double-digit insurance costs rising.
  And what does the administration propose as we have record uninsured 
and record inflation in health care? Their proposal was to shut the 
hospital doors to the uninsured. And yet in Iraq, we are opening new 
hospitals. So on one day we shut the doors here in America to the 
uninsured, and on the next day we are opening new hospitals to deal 
with the uninsured in Iraq.
  Today we have record unemployment, record uninsured in this country. 
In Iraq, we envision half the population to get universal health care 
and 100 percent maternity coverage. And yet today, we offer the 
uninsured in this country nothing. That is our vision.
  We have a major health care crisis in this country, and the 
administration has not taken a single action to lower the number of 
uninsured. We cannot deny Americans the same dreams of affordable 
health care, quality education, a safe place to live that we promise to 
Iraqis. The same values and future that we hold for Iraq, we must 
pledge for all Americans as well.

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