[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 21625-21626]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CHOOSING HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today because in the 
Sturm und Drang of the health care debate, the voices and stories of 
real Americans have been drowned out, drowned out by misinformation, 
fear mongering and just outright demagoguery.
  If we listen to those stories, we would hear of families struggling 
to pay dramatically increasing health care costs. We would hear of 
individuals denied coverage due to a previous existing medical 
condition. And we would hear of employees left without a choice of 
health care insurance providers. It is time we heard their voices.
  In my district, the wealthiest in the Nation as measured by median 
household income, families are struggling with the rapid increase in 
health care costs. Recently I met with a family of four from Fairfax 
County whose health insurance premiums rose from 2001 at $4,000 per 
year to 2009 at $18,000 per year. Let me repeat that. In the space of 7 
years, their costs went from $4,000 a year for health insurance 
premiums to $18,000. That is a 450 percent increase, Madam Speaker. In 
the same time period, coincidentally, the profits of the 10 largest 
insurers in this country rose 428 percent.
  In fact, over the past decade, the average health insurance premium 
has almost doubled, increasing nearly three times as much as wages. And 
they are still rising. Health insurance premiums are anticipated to 
increase 10.5 percent this year. This means a projected increase next 
year of almost $2,000 for the family I met.
  So while the insurance companies reap the benefits of a failing 
system, millions of families across the Nation, just like this family 
in Fairfax with whom I met, are waking up every day worrying how much 
longer will they be able to afford to protect their families with 
health care insurance.
  And what, Madam Speaker, of the millions of Americans with previous 
existing conditions? Gall stones. Rheumatoid arthritis. Diabetes. 
Asthma. High blood pressure. Even severe acne has been described as a 
previously existing by some health insurance companies. In fact, 45 
percent of all of us who have health insurance have a previous existing 
medical condition, and, if we are lucky to live long enough, virtually 
all us will end up with a previous existing medical condition and at 
risk of not being covered by our health insurance providers.
  If you have a previous existing condition, insurance companies will 
often either deny coverage for that specific ailment, or worse, drop 
you altogether. Millions of Americans face this every year. Millions 
find they are not insured. Who is listening to their voices?
  Madam Speaker I know of a young paraplegic, the victim of a virus 
that attacked his spinal column and therefore frequently has medical 
complications. He went to five insurance companies looking for 
coverage. He knew he was a greater health care risk and he was prepared 
to pay a higher premium for that risk. What he wasn't prepared for was 
that all five insurers denied him coverage at all. No health care 
coverage whatsoever. Due to a previous existing condition, he had no 
chance for insurance. And he is not alone.
  That is why we must ensure that insurance companies end the practice 
of cherry-picking only healthy individuals and denying coverage for 
previous existing conditions.
  Those Americans that are currently covered by health insurance often 
lack true choice in providers. Health insurance operates through risk 
pools. The larger the pool of people paying insurance premiums, the 
greater the insurance company can balance the risk of having to pay out 
for the sake of the injured. Unfortunately, between 2007 and 2008, the 
number of uninsured among the 18-34 age bracket, traditionally the 
healthiest group in our society, increased by 630,000, or 3.5 percent. 
In other words, younger people were less covered by health insurance in 
that time period. Those of us remaining in the health pool paid more as 
a result for our insurance premiums.
  When taking on new customers, insurance companies often have been far 
more willing to provide affordable coverage to larger groups. But even 
a company with 1,000 employees represents only a small number of 
overall customers, which is why most workers who have employer-provided 
insurance have the option of just one or two insurance providers. That 
is not competition.
  For those working for a small business, the options are even fewer. 
Now, only 43 percent of all small businesses in America offer health 
insurance to their employees because they can't afford it. As health 
care premiums continue to rise, more and more companies drop coverage 
and more and more Americans find themselves without health care 
coverage.
  So what happens to those Americans, Madam Speaker, whose jobs no 
longer

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provide insurance? What happens to those Americans who are self-
employed or working part-time? Their voices have been drowned out in 
this debate, and I think it is time we heard from them.

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