[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26541]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             HEALTH REFORM

  (Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, as this House, this Congress, takes up the 
debate during this historic opportunity to address and to fix our 
Nation's health care crisis by passing universal health care, I'd like 
to take a minute to talk about a family from Rhode Island.
  Barbara, from Cranston, is a devoted mother of two remarkable boys, 
one of whom has hemophilia. A 3-month supply of his life-sustaining 
medication costs $60,000, never mind the costs of doctor visits or of 
hospitalizations. She came to my office to advocate for her son, 
casting little attention to her own condition--multiple sclerosis. 
Despite her challenges, she knows she is one of the lucky ones because 
she has insurance coverage, but without health care reform, she is 
forever held hostage by insurance companies' annual and lifetime caps 
and by barriers on preexisting conditions.
  There are countless families like Barbara's who are struggling to 
afford to keep the coverage that they have or who are struggling to 
afford to get coverage in the first place.
  It is time to pass health insurance reform. The bill before us is 
fundamentally going to change the system in America from health care's 
being a privilege for only those who can afford it to its being a right 
for everyone. We need to act now.

                          ____________________