[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 19665]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. OLVER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, this is our year for health insurance reform. 
The private health insurance industry has reaped enormous profits over 
the last 9 years while Americans' wages have barely increased at all. 
On average, 30 percent of the $1.8 trillion in premiums that Americans 
pay to health insurance companies pays for overhead costs--salaries, 
administrative, lobbying, and profits--rather than for health care. 
Americans cannot afford that waste of scarce dollars. Our health reform 
legislation will limit such overhead spending to no more than 15 
percent.
  We have to focus our priorities on the quality of health care itself. 
For example, the diabetes epidemic demonstrates dramatically how 
critical preventative medicine is to America's children. One-third of 
all children born this decade are expected to develop diabetes in their 
lifetimes. The prevention of diabetes will make America healthier, and 
we will avoid the enormous future costs of diabetes treatment.
  Now is the time to act on health care reform.

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