[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19575]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FOR-PROFIT HEALTH INSURANCE SYSTEM

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Why are there 50 million Americans without any health 
insurance? It's pretty simple. It's because people cannot afford to pay 
the premiums. Why is it that half the bankruptcies in the United States 
are connected to people not being able to pay their hospital bills? 
It's because the copays and deductibles are through the roof and they 
threaten family financial stability.
  Why do these things happen? It's because we have a for-profit health 
insurance system; $1 out of every $3 goes for the operation as a for-
profit system--$800 billion a year for corporate profits, stock 
options, executive salary, advertising, marketing, the cost of 
paperwork. If we took that money and put it into care, we would have 
enough to cover everyone.
  This is a battle between the insurance companies and our people. 
We're either going to have a government of the people, by the people 
and for the people, or we're going to have a government of the 
insurance companies, by the insurance companies, and for the insurance 
companies. I think we remember what Lincoln said at Gettysburg. He 
didn't say that the insurance companies were going to run the country.

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