[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19551]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     PROVIDING ADEQUATE HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. POLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about one of the most 
important reasons to pass Obama's health care plan, and that is the 
current discrimination that Americans with preexisting conditions face.
  Through no fault of their own, perhaps because of a genetic 
disability passed through by their parents or a childhood disease or a 
disease later in life, many Americans are uninsurable or only insurable 
at a very high rate.
  That is fundamentally unfair. America is a fair country. We should 
only have to be responsible for actions that we undertake. Most 
Americans who suffer from preexisting conditions suffer those because 
of no fault of their own. It is not fair to make them or their 
employers pay more simply because of a preexisting condition. This 
could be you. This could be your son or daughter. This could be any of 
us who suffer from preexisting conditions.
  What the Obama health care reform plan does is it pools the risk 
together and prevents discrimination against those who, through no 
fault of their own, have a preexisting health care condition and 
ensures that they, too, have access to adequate health care.

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