[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26086-26087]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Maryland (Ms. Edwards) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, we are closer than ever to 
achieving health care reform for the American people. I think it's 
really important for us to step back and examine the reasons that we 
want health care reform.
  Every day, every year premiums for Americans are going higher and 
higher, deductibles and copays higher and higher. Millions of people 
without health insurance, some 47 million people without health 
insurance, 14,000 people a day who lose their health care coverage. 
It's really unthinkable. And here we have an opportunity to do 
something that's very special and right for the American people.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, I haven't been in this Congress for six decades, 
but I do know that the idea of health care reform has risen and fallen 
for six decades. So it's time for us to make the kind of changes the 
American people thought they bought onto in November 2008. We are 
closer than ever to achieving that kind of comprehensive reform. We 
need to take a look at why we want reform.
  The American people want reform because they want to lower their 
health care costs. They know the cost of their premiums. It's not 
affordable for their families. Americans want health care reform 
because it's not fair that millions go without health insurance and 
many millions more are in danger of losing their health insurance. Our 
small businesses are struggling each and every day. They want to 
provide health care for their employees, but they just can't because 
they can't operate with a profit margin and provide quality, 
affordable, and accessible health care for their employees.
  So I am really struggling here with why my friends on the other side 
of the aisle have so resisted reform. I don't really believe that it's 
because they're such allies with the health insurance industry. I don't 
really believe it's because they're more driven by what works for the 
private market than what works for the American people, but I have to 
believe that all of us can get on one page about what's right for the 
American people.

                              {time}  1430

  So, as we move into these days following many town hall meetings and 
meetings at senior centers with our seniors, as we talk to young people 
about the need for reform and as we meet with our business leaders, 
it's time for some real decision-making. If it's not going to come from 
my friends on the other side of the aisle, then the leadership and that 
decision-making has to come from Democrats. It doesn't matter to me, 
frankly, about one election or another, because it's about doing what's 
right for the American people.
  Now, I, along with hundreds of others of my colleagues, happen to 
believe that a robust public health option is important for the 
American people. I guess the question is: How many more are going to 
step up and have the courage to do the right thing? How many more are 
going to step up and say, You know what? Not only do we want to 
eliminate preexisting conditions and strengthen insurance provisions 
for everyone, but we want to lower costs, we want to create 
competition, and we want to make sure that there is real accountability 
in the system.
  Now, earlier this month, we had an opportunity to see the insurance 
companies and insurance industry completely unmasked. I mean their 
goals are very clear to the American people. Their goals are about 
maintaining the status quo because it works for them. Their goals are 
about maintaining the status quo because it satisfies their profit 
margins, and it satisfies their shareholders. The problem with that is 
that it doesn't satisfy the American people. So I'm ready to act.
  I know that, from the year 2000 until 2006, the Republicans 
controlled both chambers of the Congress and the White House, and yet 
we didn't do health care reform. So the opportunity for those of us in 
the majority today is actually to do the right thing by the American 
people. I'm excited about that. I know the American people are excited 
about it.
  If you look at the polls, and although polls may not be everything, 
they do give us a picture of where the American people are and of how 
they've moved. What those polls suggest is that, despite being beaten 
up and beaten up for months and weeks at a time, the public option has 
survived. The reason that it has is that I believe, like many of my 
colleagues, that the American people are smart. They get it. They 
understand what health insurance means to them.

[[Page 26087]]

  They know that, for children who are coming out of college and who 
are ready to strike out on their own, those children are no longer on 
their parents' health insurance plans, so there has to be affordable 
and accessible health care for those young persons as they strike out 
on their own in the workplace.
  For our small business owners who want to provide health care, they 
know that, in fact, the opportunity is there if we do it in the right 
kind of way, if we make it affordable for them and if we allow the 
small businesses to do what they want to do to invest in their 
communities.
  We also know that, for those Americans who don't have health 
insurance, we can't pass them up anymore. We can't pass up the 47 
million people a year who are without health insurance.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I will close and say it's time for us to get on with 
the business of decision-making and to bring real health care reform 
with a robust public option to the American people.

                          ____________________