[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 19359]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              CONTINUING CARE FOR RECOVERING FAMILIES ACT

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, one of the greatest domestic challenges 
facing our country today is the soaring cost of health care. It is a 
serious problem for millions of families. But when the chief income 
earner in a family suddenly becomes unemployed, the problem can be 
critical, and we give a helping hand. We give them the opportunity to 
continue their coverage through their employer for a reasonable period. 
Families who lost loved ones on September 11 deserve the same 
opportunity until they can land on their feet again.
  The Continuing Care for Recovering Families Act I introduced 
yesterday with Senator Lautenberg and Senator Clinton recognizes that 
many of the September 11 families are still struggling to recover and 
we have an obligation to assist them.
  Some of the families have found ways to cover their health costs by 
purchasing private insurance or obtaining grant assistance on their 
own. For others, employers have agreed to provide coverage. For still 
other families, however, the safety net is about to fall apart, because 
their coverage is about to expire under COBRA--the temporary low-cost 
continuation of coverage available under current Federal law for those 
who change their job, lose their job, or for families that lose their 
chief income earner through death.
  The Continuing Care for Recovering Families Act will give spouses and 
children of victims of September 11 the ability to purchase or continue 
to purchase coverage under COBRA indefinitely, as long as they enroll 
within 120 days after passage of the act or 120 days after they lose 
their COBRA coverage. Eligibility for the program would expire only if 
they enroll in a private insurance plan or become eligible for 
Medicare.
  The families of September 11 have shown great courage and 
extraordinary resilience. But we still have much more to do to help 
them on their long and arduous road to recovery, and I hope very much 
that we can pass this legislation this year. It will only affect a 
small number of families. But for them, it will make a world of a 
difference.

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