[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 22]
[House]
[Page 29707]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, as we listen to the debate in the other 
body, there are two missing factors that would create the momentum for 
reform and revitalization of our health care. There is a stunning 
disconnect between the two sides on the nature of the problem and the 
impact of government's involvement in health care.
  Opponents argue, with apparent sincerity, that America has the best 
health care in the world and it would be ``destroyed by Federal 
involvement undermining the quality of existing care'', while supposed 
cost increases would make health care unaffordable for individuals 
purchasing insurance and ultimately for the taxpayer as well.
  What opponents describe could not be more different from what my 
research, my constituents and my personal experience tells me. For many 
in Congress, there is no sense of urgency to compel action because 
Members of Congress are perhaps the most health care secure people in 
the world and all can enjoy the finest health coverage in the world.
  No one in Congress is likely to go bankrupt this year, or the next, 
from their preexisting conditions. It doesn't matter because all are 
eligible for participation in the Federal employees health benefits 
program. They are able to access the House physician. When they travel 
overseas, they have military doctors. About a quarter of the House and 
Senate are eligible for Medicare and for veterans' programs. No wonder 
there's no sense of urgency, and Senators and Congresspeople can be 
sincere in their conviction that America has the best health care in 
the world.
  The disconnect is my colleagues' failure to recognize the 
government's role in all that they enjoy. There is a simple solution to 
break this deadlock--support my bill to end government involvement in 
the health care of Members of Congress. I propose, until comprehensive 
health care reform is signed by the President, there be no Federal 
investment in health insurance for Members of Congress. No Federal 
involvement in negotiating their Federal Employees Health Benefits. 
They would not be eligible to be participating in the dreaded 
government single payer program--Medicare. There would be no veterans, 
no House physicians, no military doctors. Those, after all, are 
socialized medicine. Members of Congress would be in exactly the same 
position as over 200 million Americans who are currently underinsured, 
uninsured, or are relying on the good intentions of a spouse's 
employer, or their ability to negotiate insurance on the private 
market, contending with their preexisting conditions and the fine 
print.
  Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely confident that within 6 months of 
Members of Congress experiencing the health care world of most of 
America, dealing with the fine print, the preexisting condition, the 
uncertainty, the bureaucracy, we would have the consensus necessary to 
be able to move forward with the comprehensive health insurance reform 
that Americans want, need and deserve.
  I would urge my colleagues to join me in sponsoring this legislation 
to get government out of the health care of Members of the House and 
Senate until all Americans can enjoy such health security.

                          ____________________