[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 24084-24085]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 5218, MATT'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. RICHARD A. GEPHARDT

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 17, 2004

  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss H.R. 5218, Matt's 
Health Insurance Plan Act of 2004, which I introduced last month. This 
bill has a very personal meaning to me, and I believe it is integral to 
solving America's health care crisis.
  Today in this country, over 40 million Americans live without health 
coverage. These Americans are people just like you and me. Citizens who 
work full-time jobs where no health care is offered. Parents who work 
two and three part-time jobs just to feed their children and provide a 
safe place to live. Entire families where values like hard work and 
responsibility mean something, but where no member of that family can 
find full-time work with full benefits in a struggling economy.
  Americans who don't have health coverage too often don't have access 
to health care. In a day and age when morals dominate the political 
landscape of this country, how can we remain indifferent to the 
millions of Americans who can't receive the care they need? This is the 
biggest moral problem our country has. It's time we fixed it.

[[Page 24085]]

  Let me tell you why this is so important to me. Three decades ago, 
when I was an attorney in St. Louis, my two year old son Matt was 
diagnosed with what they said was terminal cancer. My wife Jane and I 
were told he probably wouldn't last six weeks.
  In the end, we were among the most fortunate in more ways than one. 
My law firm had a health plan, and it was the only way we could afford 
the new and experimental therapies. That insurance plan, the talented 
doctors and nurses, and the grace of God saved Matt's life.
  But I remember the nights we spent in the hospital waiting room 
talking to the parents of another patient--a child with severe cancer 
from a family who couldn't afford health insurance. Those parents 
didn't know what to do. All they could do was pray. As long as I live, 
I will never forget the terror in their eyes. In this country, it 
should never be this way.
  Matt's Plan, named after my son, is my vision for how we can cover 
everyone in America with health insurance--with no new bureaucracy and 
no nationalized plan. This is more than just a health care plan. It's 
also an economic stimulus plan designed to create jobs and get this 
economy moving again.
  The plan is essentially this: we pass a law requiring every employer 
to provide access to quality coverage, with employer tax credits 
covering most of the cost.
  Today, an employer can take a tax deduction that would cover about 30 
percent of the cost of health insurance. But that deduction is 
effectively worthless when a company is struggling and losing money in 
this economy.
  There are also far too many employers who fail to provide health 
insurance because the tax deduction doesn't come close to covering the 
cost of the insurance premiums. As a result, millions of families are 
left without health insurance.
  My plan would change that. Employers who don't currently offer health 
insurance would be required to offer a quality health plan, and they'd 
receive a refundable tax credit equaling 60 percent of the full cost of 
the premium. A tax credit they'd pass through completely to their 
employees in the form of health insurance. Employers would only be 
responsible for 60 percent of the full cost of the premium and would 
not be required to contribute to the cost of health coverage beyond the 
nominal administrative cost of providing health insurance coverage. 
Employees would not be required to pay more than 40 percent of the 
premium cost.
  And for those employers who currently do offer health insurance, my 
plan replaces the existing tax deduction with a 60 percent refundable 
tax credit--a tax credit on the employer's share of the premium, which 
puts more money directly into the business that has been doing the 
right thing. `Refundable' means the employer will receive the credit, 
regardless of whether they're making a profit.
  This health care plan leaves no American on their own. The 60 percent 
tax credit would apply to part-time employees. It would apply to 
retiree health benefits paid by former employers. It would apply to the 
self-employed. And state and local governments would receive federal 
assistance equal to 60 percent of their health care costs.
  My plan would allow individuals between the ages of 55 and 64 to buy 
into Medicare coverage at no cost to the federal government. It would 
subsidize 65 percent of the cost of COBRA health insurance for the 
unemployed. It would subsidize low-wage workers who are below or near 
the poverty line who can't afford their share of the premium. And it 
would modify the SCRIP Program for uninsured low income children, 
expanding it to include their parents, and expanding efforts to find 
those families who qualify.
  Under my plan, employers who already offer health insurance would see 
an immediate reduction in their overhead. The economic stimulus would 
result in billions of dollars in increased wages and benefits, more 
money in the pockets of the average family, and more jobs. And the 
result of adding millions of Americans to the ranks of the insured 
means more preventive care, far fewer trips to the emergency room, and 
lower health care costs for everyone.
  Mr. Speaker, I have introduced this bill so that Matt's Plan will 
become part of the public record on the health care debate. I hope that 
as Congress continues to deal with the health care problem in America, 
someone will reintroduce this bill and develop this plan further.
  To me, this plan is a bold, innovative idea that can work--an idea 
that can bridge a canyon of fear and illness and cover everyone in 
America with health insurance, and jump start the economy at the same 
time. It's morally right and economically sensible. Healthy workers are 
productive workers. And healthy families make for a stronger America.

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