[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20297-20298]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have come so very far.
  But there are some who think we should scrap everything we have 
accomplished and go back to square one. The truth is that throwing out 
all the great work we have done until now would be a terrible waste of 
time, energy and hard work.
  There are some who do not think now is the right time to reform 
health care. In reality, for many who feel that way, there will never 
be a good time to reform health care.
  It is easy to talk only about the part of the road we have yet to 
cover. As any parent knows, for some, the only question is, ``Are we 
there yet?''
  But it would be a mistake not to also acknowledge and appreciate the 
great distance we have traveled.
  For generations, we have been working to fix our broken health care 
system. This has been the No. 1 issue on our agenda for a long time 
now. Throughout this year alone, we have explored numerous proposals in 
numerous bipartisan roundtables, committee hearings and constituent 
meetings.
  Harry Truman recognized long ago that we must do more to make it 
easier to live a healthy life in America. Shortly after the Second 
World War, he lamented the fact that millions of our own lack ``a full 
measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.'' He knew it 
was wrong that Americans had no security against what he called ``the 
economic effects of sickness.''
  Truman knew in 1945 that ``the time has arrived for action to help 
them attain that opportunity and that protection.''
  Senator Kennedy--the man who, more than any other, has dedicated his 
life to our fight for fair health care--echoed Truman's call. He said:

       One of the most shameful things about modern America is 
     that in our unbelievably rich land, the quality of health 
     care available to many of our people is unbelievably poor, 
     and the cost is unbelievably high.

  Senator Kennedy did not give this speech last month, though it would 
have been very timely if he had. He did not give it last year, though 
it would have been equally relevant and true. He did not even give it 
last decade, or the decade before that.
  It was in 1978 when Senator Kennedy decried our shameful system. Yet 
his words and his cause are as urgent today as ever. In fact, since 
then our need for reform has gotten significantly worse.
  Today we are closer than ever to getting it done. But I know Senator 
Kennedy agrees that it should not have taken more than 30 years for 
Truman's call to compel his echo, that it should not have taken another 
30 years for us to come as far as we have today. And I know we cannot 
afford to wait another 30 years--or even 1 more year--to act.
  But for some, more than 60 years of work to stabilize health care for 
those who have it and secure it for those who don't is ``rushing it.''
  Someone who was born when Harry Truman first called for reform in 
1945, but lived his or her entire life without the ability to afford 
health care as it got more and more expensive every year, would today--
finally--be just months away from becoming eligible for Medicare. I 
don't think that's ``rushing it.''
  For too many, the interests of the insurance rackets still outweigh 
the interests of the American people.
  The difference is that those of us who know we cannot wait any longer 
know that the American people must come first.
  Those who oppose the reform we so desperately need like to talk about 
it in the abstract.
  They use code words, scare tactics and sound bites. They rely on 
misinformation--like the myth that your government wants to control 
your health--and misrepresent the real issues.
  But reforming health care is not about the abstract, because health 
care isn't just theoretical. Neither is it about rhetoric or politics. 
It is about people.
  Unlike just about any issue we debate and discuss in this body, 
health care affects every single living, breathing American citizen.
  So I find it curious that in the weeks and months we have talked 
about health care this year, I haven't heard our opponents say a single 
word about real families with real problems--families with real 
diseases, real medical bills and real fears.
  This is what health care is about: It is about people like Lisa, in 
Gardnerville, NV. Lisa lost her job and with it her health care. Now 
she can't afford to take her sick daughter to the doctor to find out 
why she gets seizures.
  It is about people like Braden in Sparks, NV. Braden owes a hospital 
$12,000 for a trip to the emergency

[[Page 20298]]

room--the only place he could afford to go for medical care because he 
doesn't have health insurance.
  It is about people like Alysia from Las Vegas, NV. Alysia has 
suffered with a kidney disease since birth, but she can't get coverage 
because in the language of the insurance business, her lifelong disease 
is a preexisting condition.
  It is about people like Steve in Henderson, NV. No health insurance 
company will cover Steve because he has Parkinson's disease. That 
doesn't just mean he can't get the care he needs to help him cope with 
this terrible illness--it also means that if Steve gets the flu, or 
breaks his arm or needs a prescription, he can't afford any medicine or 
treatment at all.
  It is about people like Caleb, a high school student from outside 
Reno, NV. Caleb was born without legs, and needs new pairs of 
prosthetics as he grows bigger in his teen years. But his insurance 
company has decided it knows better than Caleb's doctors, and has 
decided that last year's legs will have to do.
  When we say we are fighting for health care reform that lowers costs, 
we aren't talking about a balance sheet--we are talking about people 
like Lisa, Braden, Alysia, Steve and Caleb.
  When we say we are fighting for reform that brings security and 
stability back to health care, we aren't talking about policies and 
contracts--we are talking about people like Lisa, Braden, Alysia, Steve 
and Caleb.
  When we say we are fighting for reform that will no longer let 
insurance companies use preexisting conditions as an excuse to deny you 
the coverage you need, we aren't talking about fine print--we are 
talking about people like Lisa, Braden, Alysia, Steve and Caleb.
  We are talking about the hundreds of thousands just like them across 
Nevada, and the millions like them across the country.
  This cannot be about politics. This must be about them.
  Nearly half a century ago, America fearlessly confronted the most 
confounding medical and economic issue of its day. And a former Senate 
majority leader reminded us that we must resist the temptation to let 
the legislation on the written page distract us from its application in 
the real world. We were asked to look beyond policy and look instead to 
the people it affects.
  It was 44 years ago today--July 30--that President Johnson signed 
into law the bill that would create the Medicare Program. And on this 
day in 1965, in Truman's hometown and with the former President at his 
side LBJ said the following:

       Many men can make many proposals. Many men can draft many 
     laws. But few have the piercing and humane eye which can see 
     beyond the words to the people that they touch.
       Few can see past the speeches and the political battles to 
     the doctor over there that is tending the infirm, and to the 
     hospital that is receiving those in anguish, or feel in their 
     heart painful wrath at the injustice which denies the miracle 
     of healing to the old and to the poor. And fewer still have 
     the courage to stake reputation, and position, and the effort 
     of a lifetime upon such a cause when there are so few that 
     share it.
       But it is just such men who illuminate the life and the 
     history of a Nation.

  Today, each of us can be that leader. We each can fulfill the vision 
of Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson--each of whom brought honor to this 
Senate chamber--and of Ted Kennedy, who still does.
  Today, if we can each look past our partisan passions and see the 
patients, the parents, the people who need our help, we can once again 
renew the life and history of America, and of all Americans.

                          ____________________