Remembering Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we knew it was coming. Yet the sight of Senator Edward Kennedy's desk draped in the black velvet of mourning is painfully sad.

America and the world have lost a great champion of civil rights, human rights, and fairness. As President Obama said so well, Senator Kennedy was not only historic, he was heroic.

We will have more time later this week to talk about his extraordinary life and the honor those of us who served with him enjoyed during his life. Today, I wish to say what a great honor it was to have worked alongside Ted Kennedy.

On his desk today is a copy of one of his favorite poems, ``The Road Less Traveled'' by Robert Frost.

There is another Frost poem that is identified with the Kennedys that Ted Kennedy loved as well. It is called ``Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.'' It is the story of a man who pauses to admire the simple serene beauty of a New England woods filling softly with snow and wishes he could stay longer. It reads:

But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Unlike his beloved brothers, Senator Kennedy's life was not one of promise cut short but a life of promises kept. He loved America, and his life's work made us a better and more just nation.

If Ted Kennedy were here today, I feel absolutely certain that he would be on the floor at this moment talking about health care. It really was the hallmark of his public career. From the beginning, he understood this was one of the most fundamental things when it came to justice and fairness in America.

The fact that 47 million Americans have no health insurance is at least embarrassing, if not shameful, in this great and prosperous Nation. Who are these people, these 47 million? Are they lazy or just unlucky? Well, they are not the poorest in America because we provide for the poorest. We have Medicaid, which provides basic health care for those who are out of work and have no source of income or savings. They are not the fortunate few or the fortunate majority, because they don't enjoy health insurance, as most of us do, where they work. They are people who get up and go to work every single day, without the assurance that they are going to have protection if they run into medical bills.

This morning, in the State Journal Register, which is published in my hometown of Springfield, IL, there is a story of one person, Terry Broida. He is a fellow who is down on his luck. He is 62 years old, and he says:

``I couldn't get a credit card to buy a postage stamp,'' said Broida, 62, who estimated he owes $80,000 to Springfield doctors and hospitals, money he doesn't think he will be able to pay.

Is he out of work? No. He is a small businessman who operates an air-filter maintenance company, and he is one of more than 45 million Americans who have no health insurance.

It says:

He wants to see Congress and the Obama administration cover all Americans through a universal, government-controlled system. And he's not scared of what some would call ``socialized medicine.''

He said this Tuesday:

We have socialized medicine already--it's called Medicare, and it works.

This says:

America's health-care costs total more than $2.2 trillion a year, accounting for 16.2 percent of the gross domestic product in 2007.

That is $1 out of every $6 spent in America.

And yet, the latest statistics indicate that 15 percent of Americans [like Terry Broida] were uninsured in 2007.

Health care costs are crippling the ability of many companies to compete, and many companies are dropping coverage.

Broida, the father of six, hasn't had health insurance [in 40 years] since 1969, when he was 22 and sold life insurance [at a local agency]. When he left that job, he operated furniture stores for more than 30 years.

He said, ``I was young, stupid and thought I could handle anything.''

He said he never could afford health insurance but always seemed to scrape together enough money for doctor visits for himself, his kids and his now-ex-wife--until 1980, when he broke his right leg playing softball.

To pay for the $3,000 surgery to fix his leg, he agreed to reupholster the surgeon's furniture.

``It was a pretty good swap,'' Broida said. But that doctor died a few months later, leaving Broida with no one willing to accept a similar swap to remove the metal rod [the doctor put] in his leg.

The rod is still there today, 29 years later.

A 17-foot fall through a roof while working in early 1990s left him with another $3,000 hospital bill he couldn't pay, and a heart attack in 1995 generated a $25,000 bill to St. John's Hospital [in Springfield, IL].

He thinks the hospital forgave most of the bill.

Fearing another big bill, [Terry] decided not to seek medical care in 1996, when he fell off another roof. ``I just laid in bed until the pain went away, and I went back to work,'' Broida said.

Spinal stenosis almost crippled him until his primary care doctor at [a local community health center] referred him for emergency surgery in 2007.

The surgery worked, but the surgeon was from a local clinic which did not offer discounted rates to patients, such as they offer to major health insurance companies. The doctor bill alone for his emergency surgery was $40,000. Broida said, ``There's no way in hell I can pay $40,000.''

At one time, he said, he earned $50,000 a year. He said he now makes about $18,000 while recovering from surgery.

He went on to talk about the fact that he had heart problems that may have been complicated by dental problems. He cannot afford regular dental
care, obviously. He basically said he is for a universal system of health care. He would like the Federal Government to establish a public option to compete against private insurance companies so people like him could afford insurance.

He said in this article:

``Businesses exist to make a profit,'' he said. ``Government exists to provide a service.''

Asked whether the debate about reform makes him hopeful, he said powerful lobbying interests will be a barrier to major decisions by congressional lawmakers.

``I'm not holding my breath,'' he said. ``It's all about the Benjamins. If they listen to the money we're screwed.''

Terry Broida, Springfield, IL, one of 47 million uninsured Americans who are all over our country. They got up and went to work this morning at their small businesses and working for other people. They made the bed in your motel room last night. They are going to take the dishes off the table when you finish with your breakfast. They are the folks who are watching your kids at daycare. They are the ones who are watching your mom in the nursing home. And they are the ones who do not have health insurance.

What kind of a country are we if we can ignore the obvious--47 million uninsured Americans. When people come to the floor and rail about health care reform and talk about socialism, they are talking about whether we as a nation can reach out and provide for those who go to work and do not have the protection and security of health insurance. I do not call that socialism. It is fundamental Americanism and fairness. It is what has defined us as a country for so long.

It has been almost 80 or 90 years now since we decided that if you make more money in America, you will pay more in taxes than someone who makes less. Socialism? I don't think so. I think it is fairness, and that is what we are getting down to in this debate.

Tonight the President of the United States will speak to us, not far from here, across the Rotunda. I am not sure exactly what he is going to say, but I know one thing for sure, he is not giving up on his promise to America to make a difference when it comes to health care. This President understands it is once in a political lifetime that you can change this country for the better.

He also understands there are powerful forces against him, people who are making a fortune off the current system who do not want anyone to rock the boat. Oh, they are not going to say that. They are going to come up with some of the things Senator Reid referred to earlier--the great lies about death panels and cutting off people when they need chemotherapy late in their life. They are going to peddle those lies and try to mislead and distort the debate. But I don't think they will succeed because I believe the American people understand that the best thing for us to do is not go through shoving and shouting at town meetings but sit down and have an honest debate and answer questions honestly, not the kind of distortion and lies we have seen.

For Terry Broida, $80,000 in debt to the hospitals and doctors in my hometown, he will go to work tomorrow in his little business and try to keep it going. He will see his own medical condition deteriorate. I wonder if, on the floor of the Senate and the House of Representatives, there will be anybody listening to his story and deciding that America can do better.

We are the fortunate few on the floor of the Senate. We have the best health insurance in America. Every American deserves that kind of health insurance. We have an opportunity once every year to pick from private health insurance plans, the ones that are right for our family. If we pick a big plan, we pay more out of our payroll deduction. If we pick a smaller plan, we pay less. But we have that right, that choice, that security, and peace of mind to know our families are going to be protected.

Many of the same Senators who come to the floor and to their town meetings to rail about public options and public-administered health care plans happen to belong to one right here in the Senate. Interesting, isn't it? Terrible for everybody else but perfect for them and their families.

I think the American people can see through that. They understand that, at the end of the day, we can improve this system and make it better and fair. They understand if they have health insurance they want to keep, it is going to be their right under any change of the law. If they have a doctor they trust, they can stay with that doctor. That is going to be protected.

But if they are similar to Terry and have no health insurance or they have health insurance which is terrible, we want to give them the same choice Members of Congress have: to pick the health insurance that is right for them, and for those in lower income categories, to give them a helping hand to pay for that health insurance premium. That is only right, and it is only fair.

We want to make sure these health insurance companies do not continue to rip off people. Two out of three people who file for bankruptcy in America today do so because of medical bills they cannot pay, just like Terry.

Two out of three file for bankruptcy because of medical bills. You know what, 78 percent of them, more than three-fourths of those filing for bankruptcy because of medical bills have health insurance. It is no good. It wasn't there when they needed it. The company denied their benefits. The company refused to pay, and they were stuck, losing everything--their life savings, things they had saved for the future, gone.

We cannot allow this to continue. We cannot allow the radical voice we have heard over the last several weeks distorting the facts about this debate to prevail. This is a time for us to stand and do the right thing for this country and bring coverage to those today in America who do not have the most basic security we all need--the security of knowing that when you wake up in the morning, you are not one accident or one diagnosis away from being wiped out financially.

For 47 million people, that is the reality of life in America. The President tonight will challenge us to change it. We have to have the political courage to do it.

I yield the floor.

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