[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20875]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for coordinating a discussion of a very important 
topic as we ask ourselves, ``In the arena of health care, are we better 
off now than we were 4 years ago?''
  In order to answer this question, are we better off, I need look no 
further than the innumerable, and often heartbreaking, letters and 
calls that I receive from people of Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional 
District every single day.
  I get letters from seniors who detail the unbelievable choices they 
are forced to make, deciding whether to use their limited and fixed 
incomes for food or prescription drugs.
  I get letters from small business owners who are agonizing over the 
fact that they can no longer afford the costs associated with offering 
insurance to their employees.
  I get letters from countless people who have lost their health care 
coverage and are wondering where they can turn for the needed care or 
how they will once again be able to get coverage, given a preexisting 
condition.
  I get letters from young mothers who spend sleepless nights worried 
that the rising health care premiums are fast becoming unaffordable and 
they might soon join the ranks of America's 45 million uninsured.
  I get letters from parents, frustrated that their children's 
treatment for a mental illness is not covered by their insurance.
  I get letters from parents of children with diabetes who cannot 
believe that their own government's restrictive stem cell policy is 
standing in the way of a possible cure.
  So when asked, ``Are we better off now than we were 4 years ago?'' 
the answer is a resounding no. But if these personal stories are not 
enough proof for my colleagues, let us look at some recent statistics.
  Today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a record-breaking 45 
million Americans do not have health insurance coverage. Millions more 
are underinsured. This is the highest level of uninsured in our 
Nation's history, and it grew by 5.2 million people over the past 4 
years.
  Health care costs have continued to skyrocket during the last 4 years 
as well. The prices for prescription drugs have seen double-digit 
increases in the last 4 years.
  The average family's share of health insurance premiums has risen by 
almost $1,000 in the last 4 years, a shocking 57 percent increase. In 
fact, just recently, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that health 
insurance premiums rose again between 2003 and 2004, the fourth 
straight year of double-digit increases.
  While health care costs have been growing, the percentage of 
Americans receiving health care coverage through their employers has 
dropped.
  What has been the Republican response to this health care crisis of 
rising numbers of uninsured and rising costs? Unfortunately, the 
Republican response has been to put forward the same old proposals as 
they have in years past: tort reform, association health plans, the 
health savings accounts, proposals that study after study have shown to 
be ineffective in holding down health care costs and also ineffective 
in providing coverage to the uninsured.
  Republicans have ignored the pleas of our seniors, calling on us to 
stop skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs, and have instead created 
a prescription drug benefit in Medicare that does more to help drug 
companies than it does to help senior citizens.
  The Republicans have failed to stop $1.1 billion in State child 
health insurance program funding from being taken from the States, 
funding that could have been used to provide health insurance to 
750,000 children in America.
  Given this dismal 4-year track record, it is obvious that we need a 
new approach to address this health care crisis, one that would truly 
control costs and expand access.
  I join my fellow Democrats in telling America that we are ready to 
lead in a new direction, one that would make quality health care 
affordable and available and assure health care security for every 
American.

                          ____________________