[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14021]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          NATIONAL 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. Mr. Speaker, at least 30 percent of the $3.2 trillion 
spent annually for health care in the United States goes to the for-
profit system while 50 million Americans, many of them working, are 
without health insurance. About $660 billion goes for corporate 
profits, executive salaries, stock options, advertising, marketing, and 
the cost of paperwork.
  If we took all that money and we put it into a public health system, 
a national health care plan, we would have enough money to cover 
everything for everyone, all medically necessary care, including dental 
care, vision care, mental health care, prescription drug and long-term 
care.
  Health care is a big money maker for corporate America, however, and 
people we know can't afford necessary health care because premiums, co-
pays, and deductibles keep going up. About half of the bankruptcies in 
America are health-care related.
  It is time for this country to break free of the shackles of the 
insurance companies, and we can do that by Members of Congress 
supporting H.R. 676, the Conyers-Kucinich-McDermott bill, which calls 
for a universal health care plan where all people are conferred and, 
finally, we meet the moral challenge that this country has of providing 
health care for all.

                          ____________________