[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11871]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       RISING COST OF HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, in the last few weeks I have had the 
honor of addressing Chambers of Commerce from districts which have 
included the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) and the gentleman from 
Alaska (Mr. Young). In both cases, we ended up having a deep discussion 
about the rising cost of health care, about how health care is becoming 
increasingly costly for many American businesses, a threat to their 
profitability.
  Today's news is that General Motors is talking about cutting 25,000 
jobs and closing plants. Here is what GM's CEO says in today's news, 
``A big challenge for General Motors is to cut its soaring health care 
expenses, $5.6 billion this year for its 1.1 million current and former 
workers and their families. Health care bills add about $1,500 to the 
cost of each GM vehicle, a significant disadvantage versus our foreign-
based competition.''
  Madam Speaker, it is time for a universal, single-payer, not-for-
profit health care system which will enable businesses to survive and 
the health care needs of the American people to be provided for.

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