OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Nation's Health Insurance System Is Broken

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 23, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health and Health Care

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. Speaker, it's clear that our Nation's health insurance system is broken and that the status quo is simply unsustainable.

Over the last decade, health insurance premiums in New Mexico have grown 118 percent for the average family, compared to just 50 percent growth in wages. Again, the cost of health insurance grew more than twice as much as wages earned by New Mexico's working families. That same trend has made health care insurance unaffordable for more than one in five adults who went uninsured last year.

Mr. Speaker, we must hold insurance companies accountable for these skyrocketing costs. If we are successful in health insurance reform, we will lower the cost of care for our families. Seniors will actually be able to afford their medications all year long, small businesses will save money, and it will end this impediment to this Nation's competitiveness in the 21st century economy. We simply cannot afford to let this historic opportunity slip away.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward