[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19544]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. YARMUTH. Madam Speaker, it is an honor for me to take the floor 
after Patrick Kennedy from Rhode Island, who, along with his father, 
Senator Edward Kennedy, have devoted so much of their careers, their 
emotions, their passion to resolving the health care problems in this 
country.
  And as we talk about health care and reforming our system, we talk a 
lot about billions and billions of dollars, we talk about government 
agencies, we talk about the politics of it, but at its core this issue 
isn't about any of those things. This is about human beings. This is 
about men, women and their families and trying to help them deal with 
health care crises, wellness issues, things that every American has to 
deal with.
  Yesterday, in southern Indiana, right across from my district, a 
subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee held a field hearing 
in which we were able to see the face of this issue, three people who 
came before us to tell their stories about how the health care system 
in America has failed them.
  One of them was a constituent from my district, Patricia Reilling. 
Patricia is a small businessperson. For 20 years she was insured under 
a small business policy by the same company. She paid her bills every 
month religiously. The only claim she ever made was for some pain 
killers for a back injury. And then, last year she was found to have 
breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy. She contracted a staph 
infection while she was in the hospital. And while all that is going 
on, she received notice from her insurance company that they were not 
going to renew her policy as of June 30 of this year. She is still 
fighting that staph infection. She is unable to work. And she is still 
fighting without insurance because the only insurance available to her 
now is far beyond her means to pay. She is the real person, and someone 
whose situation could be replicated in any household across this 
country if we don't do something about reforming our insurance system.
  Another woman who was at the hearing yesterday was Ms. Beaton from 
Dallas, Texas. Ms. Beaton is 59. She had an individual policy. She also 
contracted breast cancer, had a double mastectomy, except before she 
could have that operation the insurance company rescinded her policy, 
basically said we know we insured you, but because there was a notation 
in something in a medical chart years ago that referred to a skin 
issue--namely, pimples--and somebody misinterpreted it as saying it was 
precancerous, which the doctor denied, we are not covering your cancer 
treatment. Fortunately, Congressman Barton from Texas intervened on her 
behalf and was able to eventually get her policy reinstated. But by the 
time it was, her tumors had grown by more than 300 percent in size, and 
the treatment that she got was vastly more complicated and more 
expensive than it ever needed to be. These are the faces of the 
insurance crisis, the health crisis that we face, and we have to change 
our system.
  Fourteen thousand Americans lose their health insurance every day. It 
could be any one of us. And you know what? In that situation that we 
heard about yesterday, that has recurred. Three insurance companies 
testified before Congress a month ago; three insurance companies 
rescinded 20,000 policies over the last 5 years, did what they did to 
Ms. Beaton. They saved $300 million by doing that, but that was only 
the cost of the care they denied, the claims they refused to pay, not 
the prospective cost of covering and treating all of those illnesses, 
which would have been in the billions of dollars.
  So as we debate health care over the next week, over the next few 
months, let's remember that it is more than about money, it is more 
than about government agencies, it is more than about process, this is 
about American human beings and their only simple desire to have 
quality, affordable care. That is what we are about, and that is what 
we intend to do.

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