Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this morning we heard the Republican leader come to the floor again--this is not the first time--to address the health care situation in America. I have read his previous speech, and I listened to his speech today. It is clear to me he does not believe we are facing a crisis when it comes to health care. I think we are. I think it is a serious crisis. It is a crisis where 47 million Americans have no health insurance. Imagine, if you will, being a parent and having children with no health insurance coverage. Imagine yourself in a position where an accident or a diagnosis at a doctor's office could literally mean you would lose every penny you have ever saved in your life for expensive medical care when you do not have health insurance. Imagine that as a crisis that affects Americans, too many of them today.

Then imagine those who have health insurance and worry that tomorrow the costs will go up to the point where they cannot afford it, that there will be medical procedures necessary uncovered by their health insurance. Cost is an issue. It is an issue which is driving us to look at reform of the health care system.

I heard Senator McConnell this morning, and what he is arguing about, frankly, is not even in the debate on Capitol Hill. He said repeatedly--said it yesterday, said it again today--that our debate over health care reform means Americans run the risk of losing the health insurance they want. Exactly the opposite is true. What President Obama has said and what we are saying is that if you have good health insurance, you can keep it. You like the health insurance you have? You can keep it. No one has ever argued the opposite position, which the Senator from Kentucky referred to this morning.

He also spent a lot of time talking about government-run health care plans. It is interesting that he would raise that as an issue when we are not suggesting a government-centered health insurance reform. We think it should be a patient-centered health insurance reform.

But we also know that when you ask Americans across the board--families and patients--what do you think about the health care system in America, what are its greatest shortcomings in the current health care system, do you know what No. 1 is? Almost half, 48.9 percent, of the people say not having health insurance. The second, 43 percent say the greatest shortcoming of America's health care system is dealing with health insurance companies; 30.9 percent, inflexibility of health care plans; 30.9 percent, insurance companies' refusal to cover preexisting conditions.

When the Senator from Kentucky comes to the floor and argues against changing the current situation, he is arguing for allowing these health insurance companies to continue to dominate. As long as they dominate, Americans and their families will be vulnerable--vulnerable to increases in costs they cannot manage, vulnerable to new policies with more exclusions, vulnerable to preexisting conditions not being covered. That is the vulnerability of Americans we have today that we have to seriously address.

The Senator from Kentucky argues we do not want a Canadian plan, we do not want a British plan, we do not want a New Zealand plan. He is right. We want an American approach--an American approach that combines, yes, private health insurance companies when they are held to standards that are fair to American families but also holds open the option that we will have a plan which is run by the government--as an option, a voluntary option--for people to choose. If they like what they have in their current plan, they can keep it. If they want to move to another private health insurance plan, they can do so. If they want to choose a government plan, they can do that as well.

According to the Senator from Kentucky, if the government is involved in it, it must be bad. Tell that to 40 million Americans under Medicare, many of whom never had health insurance in their life and now have the protection of Medicare. Medicare has worked for senior citizens and the disabled for a long period of time.

The Senator from Kentucky should also tell the people in the Veterans' Administration that when the government is involved, it does not work. They know better. Veterans and their families across America know our veterans health care system provides quality care for them. We entrust to them, the men and women who risk their life for America and come home injured--we know they are going to get quality care. To argue that if there is any government involvement at all in health care it is to the detriment of America argues against Medicare, argues against the Veterans' Administration.

The Senator went on to say, if the government gets involved, the delays will be intolerable. We do not want delays. We want timely treatment of people. If a doctor believes either I or my family members need to have a surgical procedure, some help, some diagnostic test, we want it done in a timely fashion.

What the Senator from Kentucky, the Republican leader, ignores is that there are delays within the current system. An article in BusinessWeek highlights a case of a woman in New York, Susan, who called for an annual mammogram appointment in April, knowing she would have to wait 6 weeks. In 2007, her first scan at the end of May was not clear. A followup scan detected an abnormality which the doctor wanted to address with a needle biopsy and outpatient procedure. The first available date was mid-August, more than 2 months later. This lady who had an abnormality in her mammogram was forced to wait months under the current private health insurance system.

We have a similar problem in Chicago, Cook County, IL. At the local public hospital, wait times for speciality services can range from 6 months to 1 or 2 years under the current system.

We know that when it comes to delays, unfortunately, they are occurring in the current system. We also know that for a lot of people, this current system has become unaffordable and intolerable.

I think back to one of my friends in Springfield, Doug Mayol. Here is a fellow who tells a story. He owns a small business in my hometown of Springfield, a shop that sells cards and gifts. His only worker has Medicare coverage, so she is taken care of. But Doug has to buy private health insurance. Unfortunately, Doug has a problem. He was diagnosed many years ago--30 years ago, in fact--with a congenital heart valve defect. He has no symptoms. Without regular health care, he runs the risk of developing serious problems.

In the year 2001, Doug, in Springfield, IL, paid $200 a month for health insurance. By 2005, even though he had not turned in any claims, his cost of health insurance was up to $400 a month. The next year, when he turned 50, the rate nearly doubled to $750 a month. He made some changes in coverage so he would pay more out of pocket, choose a small network of providers, and have a higher deductible. He got his premium down to $650 a month.

This man owns a small shop. He sells greeting cards. He was up to $650 a month. Two years later, his premium jumped to over $1,000 a month. Again, he made some changes. By opting for the highest possible deductible, he was able to bring his premiums down to $888 a month. Think about that: He is paying 300 percent more than he paid for health coverage 8 years ago and getting a lot less for it.

He isn't a costly patient. His valve condition is asymptomatic. He has never made a claim for illness or injury. He receives routine medical care. His high deductible rarely kicks in. Here is the problem. Because of his high deductible and expense of health insurance, he is afraid to go to a doctor, that it will create another red flag for the health insurance company to raise his premiums even more.

It is unfair to him, Doug Mayol, working in Springfield, IL, as a small business owner, a man whose insurance company has never paid a claim, to watch his costs explode from $200 a month to $1,000 a month in just a few years. Sadly, if we follow the advice of the Senator from Kentucky, it will get worse.

President Obama has challenged us to take on this reform. This is not easy, believe me. There are health insurance companies that are going to fight us every step of the way. Anytime we step in to try to protect Doug and other families to make insurance affordable and to make sure it is quality, they are going to argue it is too much government, such as we heard from the Senator from Kentucky this morning. What he had to say is what we hear from the health insurance companies: Leave it alone, leave the system alone.

Can we afford for Doug Mayol and millions of Americans to leave this alone? We have to make sure we move toward a situation that recognizes we face a crisis. It is a crisis of cost and a crisis when it comes to availability of health insurance. We have to hold the health insurance companies accountable to provide us affordable quality care. We have to change the system so we have early detection of problems--preventive care. We have to ring some of the costs out of the system.

One of the persons who has made a comment on this regularly whom I respect very much is a doctor in Boston named Atul Gawande. He recently, in a June 1 article in the New Yorker, talked about the disparity in cost around the United States for Medicare. It is clear that in some parts of the country--and he was speaking of McAllen, TX, at this point--the cost for Medicare patients is dramatically higher than they are in other places. We can bring costs down to a reasonable level and try to take control of a system that is currently out of control, but we cannot do it if every day we are reminded of problems that do not exist. That is what we have heard from the other side of the aisle.

They are arguing that we want to take away people's health insurance. Absolutely false. We said: If you like your health insurance, you can keep it. They argue the government will take over the health care system. I have not run into anybody who has suggested that. What we want to do is have public health insurance and have a private option, which the Senator from New York is going to address in a moment when I close.

This is an important debate for every single American. It is time to put together reform that assures quality and affordable health care for all Americans.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source