[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 29434]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          HEALTH CARE EQUALITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2003

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 2\1/2\ minutes.
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of thousands of 
Americans, millions of Americans that suffer from lack of access to 
health care. Our Health Care Equality and Accountability Act of 2003 
would expand health care coverage by providing States the option to 
increase eligibility and streamline enrollment in Medicare and the CHIP 
program.
  This piece of legislation, this landmark legislation, addresses the 
significant gap in health care coverage and accessibility provided to 
Americans. This bill is endorsed by the African American Caucus, the 
Hispanic Caucus, as well as the Native American Caucus and the Asian 
Pacific Caucus and a lot of Democrats. But it is also not a Democrat or 
Republican; it should be a united effort in addressing the needs of our 
constituencies when it comes to health care.
  Mr. Speaker, when it comes to health care we recognize the fact that 
there is a great gap that exists out there among our constituency. For 
example, in the Latino community, 19 percent of all Hispanics depend on 
Medicare for their health care. So it becomes important that Medicare 
continues to be there for us. And I am concerned that at this time we 
continue to look at dismantling Medicare as we know it now.
  Minorities disproportionately suffer from high rates of life-
threatening diseases and are less likely to have health insurance. We 
recognize that and that is why we need to be responsive, not just as 
Democrats but also as Republicans, working together to meet the needs 
of our constituencies that are out there.
  Mr. Speaker, when it comes time for them to be fighting and defending 
our country in Iraq, we do not look to whether they are Hispanic or 
whether they are black. We work together and we ought to do the same 
here in making an effort to respond to their needs. As we look at the 
piece of legislation that we have drafted, it is a piece of legislation 
that looks at all the disparities. It looks at the number of uninsured 
and provides appropriate safeguards to protect privacy. This bill also 
helps in those areas.
  The bill begins to look at those who are uninsured out there. And 
once again we have a large number of Latinos uninsured, as well as 
African Americans and other populations that are having a rough time 
getting access to health care.
  Not to mention, Mr. Speaker, the fact that when it comes to 
prescription drug coverage, shame on us. We need to begin to look in 
terms of how do we meet that need. The bill that is before us this week 
on Medicare is a bill that begins to dismantle Medicare, two proposals, 
one in the Senate and one in the House, that are not worth the paper 
that it is written on.
  So it becomes important for us to really solve the problems that 
confront us. I urge all Members, both Republicans and Democrats, to 
begin to look at addressing this issue.

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