[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3756]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, those who have followed this debate know 
Members can disagree, and, obviously, I disagree with the Republican 
leader on the issue of health care reform. I would say there are a 
couple elements I would add.
  Yes, we expand the Medicaid rolls. That is health insurance for those 
in low-income categories. But the Federal Government picks up the tab. 
It is not an added expense to the State governments for 4 or 5 years, 
and we are hoping their economy gets better.
  What about the 1 million Kentuckians who are going on the Medicaid 
rolls? Those 1 million Kentuckians have no health insurance today. Will 
they ever get sick? Will they show up at a hospital? Yes, they will. 
Who will pay for their bills? The rest of the folks living in Kentucky 
with health insurance and the rest of us.
  Is that fair? Do these people have a personal responsibility to have 
health insurance, as long as we help them, if they are in lower income 
categories, pay the premiums with tax breaks and enrolling them in 
Medicaid? Of course they do.
  Accepting personal responsibility used to be the first thing the 
Republicans told us about their family values. Why don't people have to 
accept personal responsibility and have health insurance so the cost of 
their care is not borne by their neighbors and the rest of America?
  Let me also add again, Members of the U.S. Senate have a government-
administered health care program that protects them, their family, and 
their children. They sign up for it every single year. Not a single one 
has come to the well here and said: I am so opposed to government-
administered programs I am going to stop enrolling in the health 
insurance program for Members of Congress--not a one.

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