[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21802]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. ELLISON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, in America today, more than 60 percent of 
all bankruptcies are related to medical bills. Insurance premiums have 
gone up three times faster than the money people take home every year. 
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are denied the health care they need 
by insurance company bureaucrats, and millions more are holding on by 
the skin of their teeth to keep what insurance coverage they do have.
  Yet there are still those who say that there is no problem and that 
nothing is wrong. I don't know who they've been listening to--maybe to 
the insurance company CEOs who rake in millions of dollars every year 
in bonuses alone or maybe to the insurance company lobbyists who have 
flooded Washington with millions of dollars spent on ensuring that 
health care reform does not happen.
  Americans want progress. They want a system that delivers quality, 
affordable health care for them and for their families. By giving them 
a public option to choose from, we can keep insurance companies honest 
through competition, and we can provide our Nation's families with the 
quality health care they deserve.

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