[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23660]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             THE UNINSURED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, according to new numbers released by the 
Census Bureau today, the number of uninsured Americans in 2002 rose to 
43.6 million. This is a 5.7 percent increase in the number of Americans 
without health insurance, the single largest increase in a decade.
  Moreover, these numbers exemplify President Bush and the Republican 
party's hard record on health care. The total number of uninsured 
Americans has increased by 3.8 million since President Bush took office 
and now totals 15.2 percent of our population. In other words, 15 out 
of every 100 Americans lack health insurance.
  Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that the increase in the number of 
uninsured is a direct result of our weak economy, but there are other 
contributing factors such as the rise in health care costs by double-
digit percentage points, States dropping Medicaid beneficiaries due to 
financial constraints, and, most importantly, employers eliminating 
employer-sponsored health coverage due to ever-rising costs.
  Employer-based coverage, which is, in fact, the largest source of 
coverage in the United States, has declined dramatically in the past 
few years. The census figures show that last year alone, loss of 
employer-sponsored coverage led to 1.3 million Americans joining the 
ranks of the uninsured.
  Madam Speaker, this is particularly significant in the context of the 
Medicare bill that is currently being worked out in conference. As it 
currently stands, the Republican Medicare bill, which passed the House, 
encourages employers who are currently providing retiree health 
benefits to drop coverage. Unfortunately, the Republican bill states 
that any dollar an employer pays for an employee's prescription drug 
costs would not count towards the employee's out-of-pocket catastrophic 
cap. And this disadvantages 12 million out of 40 million seniors with 
employer-sponsored coverage because it would be almost impossible for 
them to reach the bill's catastrophic cap over which Medicaid would pay 
100 percent of their drug costs. Without a doubt, many employers will 
stop offering retiree coverage if this Republican bill were to become 
law.
  Now, the Republicans are also suggesting tax credits to the uninsured 
to purchase health insurance in the private market, but such offers 
simply do not work. And we need to immediately evaluate a number of 
proposals to alleviate the situation. For example, if everyone likes 
tax credits so much, then we should consider tax credits that can be 
credited by the individual towards employer-based health insurance that 
guarantees a basic package of benefits, or tax credits for hard-pressed 
small businesses to offer health insurance to its employees. Any of 
these type of initiatives that ensure a strong and stable system of 
employer-based health coverage really should be encouraged.
  Madam Speaker, as Americans in private health insurance plans lost 
coverage, 3.2 million more Americans joined the Medicaid rolls. This is 
very problematic because, as we know, States continue to experience 
severe financial restraints and are not capable of maintaining their 
Medicaid or SCHIP programs for kids without a new infusion of Federal 
dollars. In fact, with the weak economy and States cutting back their 
Medicaid programs, the number of uninsured is going to continue to 
rise.
  Now, I think it is time for Congress to take responsibility and 
provide meaningful expansion of programs to once and for all reduce the 
number of uninsured Americans. And I know the Republicans have not 
bothered to deal with this effectively. The Democrats have had a number 
of proposals. We have rolled them out, but, of course, we have not been 
able to get support with the Republicans in the majority. But I think 
this information that came out today from the census, showing that the 
number of uninsured continues to rise so dramatically under President 
Bush's watch, is an indication that the Republican leadership here has 
to do something about it. We, as Democrats, are more than willing to 
join; but we cannot continue to have this situation where the number of 
uninsured continues to rise under President Bush and the Republican 
party's watch.

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