[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 119]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             HEALTH CARE VOUCHERS FOR THE WORKING UNINSURED

  (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, last year, Americans on average saw their 
health care costs increase by 9.3 percent. That is on top of the year 
before where health care inflation ran at 12 percent. Today, we have 44 
million Americans without health insurance and 32 million Americans who 
work full-time without health care.
  In fact, the problem with our health care system today is that many 
people with health care insurance pay an uninsured premium for those 
who work, but show up at emergency rooms without health care. Hospital 
costs are skyrocketing through the roof. We all pay for their health 
care, and they do not get it.
  What ails our health care system is that there is not enough 
competition. We need competition in pricing of prescription drugs where 
we have competition, where people can buy drugs in Canada, in Europe. 
That competition and choice would drive prices down. What we need to do 
for the uninsured is also create a competitive system.
  I have offered and will be offering soon a piece of legislation for a 
health care voucher for the working uninsured where they will get a 
voucher equal to the dollar amount of the tax credit the President 
proposed and buy into a subsidiary of the Federal employees health care 
plan.

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