[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6936-6937]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           THE PROBLEM OF AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to raise awareness of a 
problem that is plaguing our health care system, and that is the number 
of uninsured Americans. It has been estimated that more than 45 million 
lack health insurance. However, it is important for understand for us 
to understand better who the individuals are that make up that 45 
million.
  A census taken in 2003 reveals that almost one-third of the 
uninsured, 15 million, live in households with annual incomes above 
$50,000. 7.6 million of these individuals live in households with 
incomes of more than $75,000. Moreover, Mr. Speaker, 18 million of the 
uninsured are between the ages of 18 and 34.
  Obviously, many of these are uninsured as a matter of choice. They 
choose not to have coverage, because health insurance in this country 
is prohibitively expensive and it is not a purchase they wish to make, 
either because they are young and healthy or because they are willing 
to roll the dice and take their chances, or, if their employer cannot 
afford to offer insurance, the regulations on the individual insurance 
market make purchasing a policy on their own prohibitively expensive.
  Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership of this House has 
shown the American people how health care can be made more affordable 
in this country. There are three fundamental avenues that take 
significant steps toward allowing all Americans to be able to afford 
health insurance.
  The first is Association Health Plans, or AHPs. The House of 
Representatives last year passed H.R. 525, the Small Business Health 
Fairness Act. This bill will reduce the cost of health benefits for 
small businesses and the self-employed by establishing new national 
Association Health Plans. AHPs currently exist, but they are severely 
hampered by the administrative burden and high costs of having to 
comply with 50 different sets of State insurance mandates and 
regulations. These barriers have made it virtually impossible to start 
new plans and have forced many of these plans to close, thus greatly 
limiting the availability of affordable health insurance to our small 
businessmen and women.
  H.R. 525 will strengthen health insurance markets by creating greater 
competition and more choices of health plans for small businesses. 
Greater competition will benefit consumers by bringing premiums down 
and expanding access to coverage. The bill provides AHPs with the 
opportunity to offer fully insured health plan options under a uniform 
set of rules across State lines so it will actually expand 
opportunities for insurance companies to serve these small businesses.

                              {time}  2145

  Mr. Speaker, the second avenue that will allow more Americans to 
purchase health insurance are through health savings accounts.
  They were established by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. 
Health savings accounts allow Americans to put aside tax-free dollars 
with a maximum annual contribution to pay for their health care needs.
  These accounts are combined with high-deductible health insurance 
policies that cover both preventative services as well as catastrophic 
coverage; and these accounts, Mr. Speaker, grow with the miracle of 
compound interest.
  In 2 years, over 3 million individuals have enrolled in HSAs; and the 
number of Americans projected to enroll by the year 2010 increases to, 
get this, 29 million. In addition, more than one-third of HSA 
purchasers last year actually had incomes under $50,000; and one-third 
of individual HSA purchasers last year were previously in the rolls of 
the uninsured.
  In his State of the Union Address, President Bush announced his plans 
to build and expand upon those early successes by giving Americans who 
purchase HSAs the same tax advantage given to employer-sponsored health 
insurance plans. This is a huge boost for those Americans who are self-
employed, unemployed, or they work for companies that do not offer 
health insurance. It levels the playing field and increases the number 
of individuals and families with coverage.
  Mr. Speaker, the last solution of reducing the number of uninsured 
Americans is called community health centers. They are vital to enhance 
medical care in poor communities, where access to regular care is often 
hardest to come by and where basic primary and preventative services 
can do an enormous amount to raise standards of living and well-being.
  With the support given by the Federal Government over the last 
several years, our community health centers now have capacity to serve 
more than 3.5 million additional Americans, with nearly 2 million more 
served in the next 2 years.
  So, Mr. Speaker, it is not national health insurance that we need; 
and I think I heard one of my colleagues on the other side at the start 
of these 5 minutes describe that and recommend it. But, as can you see, 
the leadership in the House of Representatives, we take seriously our 
responsibility to allow all Americans to purchase health insurance. But 
our job is not done until all Americans enjoy the comfort and the 
security of health care insurance.

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