[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25237]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       INSURANCE COMPANY CATCH-22

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. This month a health insurance company tried to deny 
health coverage to a 4-month-old baby in Colorado. Why? Because they 
said he was too fat. An insurance company also, just this week, denied 
coverage to a 2-year-old girl. Why? Because they said she was too thin. 
Too fat, too thin, sounds like a no-win situation, a catch-22.
  And, in fact, it was designed that way. An industry spokesman said 
they might reconsider covering those children if they got medical 
treatment and seemed healthy over a period of time. So in order to get 
health insurance, these children need to get treated without health 
insurance until they prove they're healthy enough to satisfy the 
insurance company. A cruel trick. And these companies pull it every day 
just to preserve their profit margins.
  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Our friends across the 
aisle have been using similar logic to defend these companies and to 
defeat health insurance reform. They tell us that a public option will 
mean government-run health insurance, and that must be stopped. They 
tell us our health reform plan will endanger Medicare which is, of 
course, a public option. Which is it: too fat, too thin, too much 
government or not enough?

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