Uninsured Week

Floor Speech

UNINSURED WEEK -- (House of Representatives - March 24, 2009)

(Mr. COSTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call upon the Congress to reform our health care system. It's important. Forty-six million Americans currently have no health care insurance, yet health care costs have risen dramatically in years.

Insurance premiums in California have risen at a rate more than twice the rate of inflation, eating up a larger and larger percentage of household incomes. With the recent economic downturn, far too many families are losing their employer-based coverage and unable to afford the cost of health care on their own.

Like it or not, we taxpayers are paying for the health care in some of the most expensive ways possible, through the emergency room, for those who are uninsured. Last year, hospitals in my district provided nearly $200 million in uncompensated care. Clinics in our Central Valley alone have provided care for over 600,000 who have little insurance or none at all.

This system cannot and should not continue. The bottom line is we are paying for the uninsured today--the 46 million Americans who do not have insurance. We ought to do it in a better way.

Our citizens' health and our Nation's fiscal health depend on meaningful reform. Let's begin that effort.

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