[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26537]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, even though insurance companies make money 
not providing health care, the so-called reform bill gives so much 
power and money to the insurance companies that we are giving far too 
much for the few benefits which the bill may confer.
  The insurance companies get at least another 26 million new 
customers. They will receive at least another $50 billion in new 
revenue. They will be able to raise premiums 25 percent even though in 
each of the last four consecutive years the industry raised premiums by 
double digits.
  As long as there are for-profit insurance companies, there will be no 
effective way to protect consumers against ever-escalating premiums, 
copays, and deductibles unless the insurance companies know that people 
at the State level will always have a choice to reject the insurance 
companies and establish a single payer, not-for-profit system.
  That is why the Kucinich amendment should be put back in the health 
bill, not just to protect the rights of States to pursue single payer, 
but to protect the rights of consumers to be free of the economic death 
grip of the insurance companies.

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