Progressive Caucus Message

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, let me just signal that again tonight we come before this body as the Congressional Progressive Caucus with the Progressive Message.

The Progressive Message, this idea of coming before the American people, projecting a progressive message, so that the people of the United States can say, you know what, there are people in Congress today who are willing to stand up and say that ideas about generosity, of justice, of peace, of inclusion, of universal health care, of providing access for everyone, these are principles, there are people who are in that Congress who will stand up for these ideas, and that is the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

And we come and we talk about the Progressive Message where we talk about the importance of this message of saying we will remember great advances of our country of the past, like the civil rights movement, the women rights movement, the idea of coming together for Social Security, standing up for peace, getting us out of Vietnam, standing up against the rush to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. And today, that charge has not failed. That charge has not gone unnoticed, and we're here today to keep the call going.

And tonight for the Progressive Message, I'm really pleased to have join me a leader who never fails to stand up for the people, never shrinks from the call of the people, a progressive, dynamic leader who hails from the great city of Houston, the great State of Texas, none other than Sheila Jackson-Lee. I thank Congresswoman Jackson-Lee for joining me tonight for the Progressive Message. Do you want to get us started a little bit as tonight we talk about health care?

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Mr. ELLISON. I thank the gentlelady.

Let me point out as we walk into this new round of debate in health care, there is a pretty well-accomplished Republican adviser and consultant who has come out to be heard on this issue. And the gentleman, Frank Luntz: ``Warns GOP Health Reform is Popular.'' This has been published. This is a headline. Mr. Luntz is telling his constituency that health reform is popular, and he's warning the GOP what they should do if they ever want to come out of the cold.

Dr. Frank Luntz, a top Republican consultant on the language of politics is warning the GOP that the American people want health care reform and that lawmakers need to avoid directly opposing President Barack Obama. ``You simply must be vocally and passionately on the side of reform,'' Luntz advises in a confidential 26-page report--I guess it's not so confidential now--obtained from Capitol Hill Republicans. ``The status quo is no longer acceptable if the dynamic becomes President Obama is on the side of reform and Republicans are against it. Then the battle is lost and every word in this document is useless.''

I think it's important to bring this out because we, of course, care about our Republican colleagues. We're all in the same body. And I think the advice to them is to avoid the fear stuff, because as Frank Luntz, a man who knows this stuff, has said, health reform is popular.

I wonder--I mean, do either one of the esteemed Members have any views? Is this health reform that is talked about all over the Nation, is it popular? Do people really want it, and does a politician who stands against reform run the risk of paying the price at the polls?

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Mr. ELLISON. Well, you've opened up an issue that I would like to explore for a moment, and that's an issue of cost and expense, how much is it costing. I think the gentleman from Washington already talked about the exorbitant expenditure. And this chart I have to the right--projected spending on health care as a percentage of gross domestic product--what this chart shows is that we are nearly approaching 50 percent of gross domestic product when you add up all of health care. This big shaded area, the light blue-gray area here is all other health care. This little thin slice is Medicaid, and this low slice down here is Medicare, which we all know is one of the most efficiently run health care systems that we have--by the way, a single-payer system.

And we've seen, as the percentage of GDP that if we add it all up, it's getting up to 50 percent. And my question is--and by 2082, it will be 50 percent. Here we are back here. It's been crouching up. And now we're in the realm of approaching 15, 14 percent. But if it keeps on growing, we will be paying 50 percent of our gross domestic product in health care by 2082, which, quite frankly, is not that long from now.

These numbers are going in the wrong direction.

I also want to bring up another chart very briefly. And this chart talks about net insurance program administrative costs as a percent of total spending. The fact is, if you look at Medicare, administrative costs are pretty low, about 5 percent or less. Medicaid, a little higher, 8 percent. Top five private companies, 17 percent. Small group, 29 percent. Individuals, 41 percent. Average private insurance, 14 percent.

My question is, can we continue to see administrative costs be so high?

When we talk about having an insurance program, what are the implications
for the average citizen trying to get health care?

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Mr. ELLISON. I thank the gentlelady for making that clear about small business because it is important that for people to know that we have this burgeoning coalition of people who want to see single-payer, at least want to see a public option. Clearly, we know that the forces of labor would like to see this public option and many of them call for single-payer. We know that the Chamber of Commerce has said we need health care reform. They may not be calling for single-payer, but some are. We know doctors are. But also as you pointed out, it's critical to know small business people would benefit from single-payer or at least a public option, which is critical.

And I just want to say, as we begin to wrap up the night, that the need for health care reform in a public plan is essential. Reform will alleviate the burden on families by lowering costs, ensuring timely access to affordable health care, making sure that everybody has access to preventative care to help keep people healthy so those people that you were referring to don't have to worry about their employees being sick and not coming to work. They got a plan so they're coming back to work every day.

And allowing workers to change jobs without worrying about losing health care. In this age of increasing unemployment, should a person lose their job and lose their health care? It's a scary prospect, and I suppose I pose that question to the gentlelady as well.

As you talk to your constituents and you walk around the City of Oakland and you're in the grocery store, and you're in the park and in the community meetings, what are you hearing about people's fears as it relates to how they might lose their job--I mean, lose their health care if they should happen to become unemployed?

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