[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23582]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            HEALTH CARE PLAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to correct a 
misperception held by many in this Chamber and others throughout our 
great Nation. Members of my party claim that our colleagues across the 
aisle do not have a health care plan. Well, I'm here to break with my 
own caucus and say that's just not true. Our Republican friends do in 
fact have a plan.
  Let me offer you some of their highlights. The plan so far offered by 
our Republican colleagues would allow health care premiums to double 
over the next decade; add more than two-thirds to the out-of-pocket 
expenses for individuals and their families who watched helplessly as 
premiums and deductibles grew three times faster than their wages over 
the last decade; and push more families to the brink of financial ruin 
because they can no longer afford basic health care needs.
  In my district alone, more than 1,400 people were forced into 
bankruptcy last year because of expenses not covered by health 
insurance.
  It doesn't stop there, Mr. Speaker. Their plan would also allow 
insurance companies to continue racking up profits by denying coverage 
using capricious standards.
  Insurance companies in 45 States would be allowed to continue 
discriminating based on preexisting conditions for those attempting to 
purchase insurance on the individual market. It's estimated that more 
than 12.6 million Americans have been denied coverage because of 
preexisting conditions already.
  Insurance companies in eight States and the District of Columbia 
would be allowed to continue denying coverage to survivors of domestic 
violence because they classify history of such violence as a 
preexisting condition, which is a particularly egregious example of 
cherry-picking by insurance companies, considering October is Domestic 
Violence Awareness Month.
  Even those lucky enough to have health insurance will continue to 
find their coverage or their costs altered due to preexisting 
conditions, which affect up to 45 percent of us who already have health 
care insurance.
  The Republican plan, or lack thereof, also will make it harder in the 
business community to continue meeting the needs of its workers and 
customers. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study showed that 42 
percent of employers are preparing to increase premiums next year; 39 
percent of employers are preparing to increase out-of-pocket expenses 
for doctor visits next year; 37 percent of employers are preparing to 
increase out-of-pocket prescription drug costs next year; and 8 percent 
said they already have reached the tipping point and have decided to 
drop health care coverage altogether next year.
  Mr. Speaker, small businesses in the Commonwealth of Virginia alone 
spent more than $3 billion on health care premiums last year. That 
figure is expected to more than double to $7.4 billion during the next 
decade if we do nothing.
  Today, less than half of Virginia's small businesses offer health 
insurance to their employees, with three-fourths saying they're 
struggling to do so. The plan offered by our Republican colleagues 
would only exacerbate that situation and likely push more businesses 
into withdrawing health care coverage altogether.
  But that's not what our businesses want. Not only do two-thirds of 
Virginia's small businesses say health care reform will play an 
important part in getting the economy back on track, but more than half 
of them also say they, themselves, have a responsibility to help 
provide coverage for their employees.
  A majority of Americans--57 percent--say it's now more important than 
ever to reform our broken health care system. Unfortunately, the plan 
from our Republican colleagues amounts to ``do nothing and hope for the 
best.'' Well, we can't afford that plan. And, thankfully, Americans are 
starting to come to the same realization.
  That same poll found that 57 percent of the public faults our 
Republican colleagues for opposing health care reform more for 
political reasons than substantive argument.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford for premiums to climb 50 percent above 
the national poverty rate for a family of four. We cannot afford for 
more employers to pull the plug on providing health care coverage for 
their employees. We cannot afford to put even more families in the 
position of struggling to pay for basic needs like health care.
  We must deliver reform that will make health care affordable and 
accessible; cap out-of-pocket expenses; stop the practice of cherry-
picking based on preexisting conditions; and protect our small 
businesses from crippling costs.
  We must deliver reform that will once again instill confidence in our 
Nation's health care system--and that is what we will do here in the 
House of Representatives this fall.

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