[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2623-2624]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
        THE PRESIDENT'S ALLEGIANCE IS TO THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. The insurance industry is exempt from antitrust law. 
They can and do legally fix prices. They can and do legally 
discriminate. They can and do legally deny coverage because of a 
preexisting condition, or for no reason whatsoever. But despite the 
fact that 60 percent of Americans get their health care through their 
employers, the President wants Americans to give

[[Page 2624]]

up that protection of group coverage and throw themselves into the 
unregulated and cruel world of private insurance under the guise that 
he cares about the 46.1 million Americans that don't have health 
insurance, up 6 million on his watch.
  And there's one more little cruel joke hidden in here. He doesn't 
tell them about that tax deduction which would also allow them to take 
a deduction against their Social Security. For a family or a person 
earning $30,000 a year, it would cut their Social Security benefits in 
half. The President will do anything to help his friends in the 
insurance industry; he doesn't care much about those who are uninsured 
or who need help with health care.

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