Health Care Week

HEALTH CARE WEEK -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 27, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. TAMMY BALDWIN
OF WISCONSIN
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2005

Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my disappointment in the bills that the House of Representatives is considering during this so-called ``Health Care Week.''

While I applaud House leaders for turning their attention to the health care crisis, I do not believe that the bills we are considering will solve the problem we face, and I fear that some of these measures may actually worsen the crisis. I look forward to the day when we will consider real solutions to ensure that all Americans have access to quality, comprehensive, affordable health care.

According to the latest figures released by the Census Bureau, 45 million Americans are uninsured. Millions more are underinsured. Just last month, the Commonwealth Fund released a study estimating that there are 16 million Americans who are underinsured--meaning their insurance would not adequately protect them in the event of catastrophic health care expenses. That means that 61 million Americans either have no health insurance or have insurance coverage that leaves them exposed to high health care costs. Sixty-one million is nearly 21 percent of all Americans, or one in five. Put simply, this is unacceptable.

Unfortunately, the health care legislation that the House will consider this week fails to address our nation's health care crisis. These bills will not do anything to provide quality, comprehensive, and affordable health care to these 61 million Americans or to the millions more who constantly worry about losing their health care.

As in years past, I remain opposed to proposals to create ``association health plans'' or AHPs. AHPs purport to offer affordable health care to small business owners and employees, but this is accomplished by exempting insurers from state insurance and consumer protection laws including benefit mandates, solvency standards, and pricing rules. This evasion of state laws could be devastating to the consumer who thinks that they have comprehensive coverage only to discover, after the fact, that their policy offers a bare bones minimum of benefits.

In addition, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that AHPs will cause 10,000 people to lose their health care coverage. Because AHPs are exempted from state insurance laws, AHPs can ``cherry pick'' the healthiest employees and deny coverage to those who are more costly to cover. This would drive up insurance premiums for everyone who remains in state-regulated insurance plans, making health insurance less affordable and forcing people to drop their insurance because of rising costs. I recognize the frustration and struggles faced by the self-employed and small business owners trying to provide health care to their employees, but AHPs are not the answer to the uninsurance crisis, if they will result in more people becoming uninsured.

Similarly, the House will consider a medical malpractice bill that will fail to lower health care costs for Americans. Proponents of this bill claim that rising costs of medical malpractice insurance and ``excessive litigation'' are driving up health care costs so much that caps must be instituted, placed on the amount of money a victim of malpractice can receive for a lifetime of pain and suffering or other non-economic damage.

Unfortunately, these caps will have little effect except to limit patient rights to sue for medical injury. Numerous studies have shown that medical malpractice awards, legal fees, and other costs account for less than one percent of the nation's health care spending. This bill represents nothing more than a false promise.

Soaring malpractice insurance rates need to be addressed with two principles in mind. First, do no harm to the victims of medical errors. Second, start addressing insurance abuses by focusing on the malpractice insurance industry, not the victims of medical malpractice. Narrow federal caps on non-economic damages are not the way to address the problems with malpractice insurance.

Health care costs are rising for many reasons. Given the relatively small role that medical malpractice verdicts and settlements play in rising health care costs, this bill is really more of a distraction that is keeping us from making headway on the real culprits. Congress should leave regulation of insurance and tort law to the states. Congress should not spend its time demonizing victims and their advocates.

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of underlying issues that come up when considering America's health care crisis: uninsurance, underinsurance, affordability, and quality, just to name a few. All Americans deserve quality, comprehensive, and affordable health care, and I look forward to the day when we will consider legislation that truly responds to these challenges.

http://thomas.loc.gov