[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17530]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     HEALTH CARE ACCESS FOR LATINOS

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the Republican 
leadership's failure to bring up legislation that actually addresses 
the health care problems of American families.
  Currently, 45 million Americans are uninsured. Uninsured numbers are 
even worse for the Latino communities which have the highest uninsured 
rate of any racial and ethnic group; 13 million Latinos are uninsured. 
That is more than one-third of the Nation's Latino population.
  Latinos make up 14 percent of the U.S. population, nearly 42 million 
people. Yet the administration's leadership continues to ignore the 
significant population. This week's legislation on association health 
plans and medical malpractice demonstrates the Republican leadership's 
inability to acknowledge the devastating impact these proposals will 
have on my community.
  These proposals will facilitate rampant fraud, raise premiums, and 
reduce benefits to Latino families. If the current Republican 
leadership really wants to reduce the number of uninsured and reduce 
health care costs, then it needs to bring up legislation to the floor 
that addresses health care problems for all American families, 
including the 9.1 million Latino families in the U.S.

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