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




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, in our efforts to reform our Nation's 
health care system, it seems like a lot of different solutions have 
arisen, and now we know what the insurance companies' solution is. It's 
the 32 percent solution.
  You heard my colleague Mr. Courtney talk about one of his 
constituents. I'd like to read you a little bit of a letter from one of 
mine--a letter from Gregg Wagner, a Realtor in Louisville:
  ``Today, I received my annual premium increase. My new premium with 
Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield increased 32 percent. I have an 
individual policy with a $2,500 deductible. It is interesting to note 
that Anthem did not spend one penny on me in the last year. Nothing. 
This has followed 15-25 percent increases in the last 8 years. This is 
one of the reasons that 30 percent of Realtors in the United States do 
not have health insurance.''
  Mr. Wagner, the Realtors are not alone. Millions of Americans face 
this unsustainable health insurance system where, if they can get 
coverage, it's pricing itself beyond their reach. We need change. We 
need competition and choice. That's what the Affordable Health Care for 
America Act does.

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