[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8435-8436]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        COVER THE UNINSURED WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Reichert). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, this week marks Cover the Uninsured Week, 
running from Sunday May 1 through Sunday May 8. I rise today in support 
of the goals of Cover the Uninsured Week.
  Cover the Uninsured Week will mobilize thousands of business owners, 
union members, educators, students, patients, hospital staff, 
physicians, nurses, faith leaders, and many others to call attention to 
the health care crisis in our country.
  In hundreds of our communities across the country, events will 
highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health 
care coverage.
  Today, 45 million Americans live without health care coverage, 
including 8 million children.
  As a Californian, I am troubled to learn that California leads the 
Nation in the number of uninsured people, with 6.5 million people who 
do not have any form of health care insurance. That is about 18 percent 
of our population; and additionally, one out of every 5 of our 
uninsured population in California is a child under the age of 18 
years.
  Uninsured numbers are even worse for the Latino community, which is 
disproportionately affected by the lack of health care coverage. As a 
Latina, I am saddened to see that Latinos have the highest uninsured 
rate of any racial group; and here in this figure, I would like to 
point out that back in the year 2003, as my colleagues can see, 
Hispanics represent 34.3 percent of those individuals that are 
uninsured. When we look at the different racial and ethnic groups, 
Latinos are the highest numbers that are uninsured.
  The latest census figures indicate that 13 million Latinos are 
uninsured. That is more than one-third of our total Latino population 
in the country. This is despite the fact that Latinos constitute the 
second largest ethnic minority group in the country and have the 
largest labor force representation. Latinos hold the majority of low-

[[Page 8436]]

wage jobs in the U.S., these positions mostly do not offer health care 
benefits.
  I want to make a special note of the fact that nearly 80 percent of 
those without health insurance are employed. Listen, they are employed, 
but they have no health care coverage. So we have to stop the myth that 
the uninsured problem is only about people that are unemployed.
  In fact, this is a picture here depicting a family in our district 
that shows people who are working. They are working, but unavailable to 
them is health care insurance; and in a country that prides itself on 
equality, it is evident that our health care system is broken when 
people suffer from a lack of access to health insurance and quality of 
care.
  More disconcerting, Latino children, the most vulnerable group in our 
society, are 21 percent more likely to be uninsured than non-Latino 
children. In fact, almost one in three Latino children receives health 
care through Medicaid or what we know as the State Children's Health 
Insurance Program, the S-CHIP program. While plenty of Americans live 
without health insurance, programs like Medicaid and the S-CHIP program 
are often the only means of providing families like this with health 
care coverage.
  Medicaid is vital for many Latinos, with 9 million Latinos receiving 
health care through Medicaid alone. Unfortunately, it is sad to say 
that President Bush's fiscal year 2006 budget proposal would cut 
funding for Medicaid by $45 billion, a drastic cut in funding that is a 
valuable service for health insurance for those who cannot afford it.
  We should not play with the lives of families like this and the 
future of our children by denying them access to critical health care 
services. Affordable and accessible health care not only decreases the 
expenses due to last minute emergency care; it allows for a healthier 
workforce and improves the overall quality of care for all.
  Last week, I had the opportunity as Chair of the Congressional 
Hispanic Task Force on Health, and I was joined by other Members of our 
Democratic leadership, to highlight our commitment to eliminate racial 
and ethnic disparities in health care. Our health care system is not 
meeting the needs of all people. For racial and ethnic minorities and 
even for Asian Pacific Islanders, for all of our communities, we are 
sorely underserved by the services that should be adequately provided 
to all of us.
  Democrats are committed to working towards expanding health care 
insurance coverage for all, and I am committed to addressing the health 
care needs of all of our communities. The uninsured problem affects 
every single one of us. Whether it is expanding our Federal safety net, 
programs like Medicaid, or working to eliminate racial and ethnic 
health care disparities or providing incentives for our small 
businesses to offer health care insurance, it is time that we take 
action now.
  I urge my colleagues to make a Federal commitment to help provide 
coverage for the 45 million Americans across the country who deserve a 
guaranteed health insurance system because one in three Americans 
without health insurance is one too many, and these are the families 
that are out there looking for leadership in the House of 
Representatives.

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