Health Care

Floor Speech

Health Care

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Mr. POLIS. I thank my colleagues from Maine and New York. I was listening to your discussion, and it struck me how many of us, yourselves included, other Members, not only of the newly elected freshman class--but other Members of Congress--had town halls, listened to our constituents. We, in fact, heard some good ideas from folks back home, and I think we are working to incorporate those into the newer versions of the bill.

One that a number of folks brought up in my meetings, and I know I wasn't alone, is why don't we encourage some interstate competition. I know that there are certain concerns that some of my colleagues have addressed about that with regards to how that might affect certain States, but there are ways that we can encourage, not create one level of Federal standards, but encourage States to enter interstate compacts to reduce the barriers of entry and bring down insurance costs.

The other thing I was struck by, and this has also been alluded to, was the ill will on the other side. Rather than trying to get to ``yes,'' it would seem like there are many in our country that are trying to stay at ``no,'' trying to stay at a ``no'' that is too costly, both in lives and money for our Nation to endure. There is plenty of room, as demonstrated, as again my colleague from Maine indicated, by her Senator today, in coming to the table, around common solutions that Republicans and Democrats can agree on. But it's critical that we approach this issue with the goal of getting to ``yes.''

Another thing, when I had people, just like other Members of Congress at our town hall meetings--and many of them were so vociferously opposed to any reform, many of them were for any reform and some of them were in the middle. The one thing I tried to leave the people that were opposed to reform with was if you are going to oppose this set of health care reforms, fine, but please oppose it based on something that's in it versus something that's not in it. Because how frustrating is it to have to deal with mischaracterizations and, indeed, lies about the actual content of the bills that we are debating.

With regard to whether, in fact, there are Federal subsidies that go to our undocumented population. No, there aren't. There is not even room for discussion there. I, personally, would like us to do more for our undocumented population in this bill. We are not. We are going to deal with that through comprehensive immigration reform, which I am a strong supporter of, next year.

With regard to death panels, there are none in this bill. I have constituents contacting me. They have heard these things on right-wing Web sites. They have had people email them to them.

I had one contact me yesterday saying the government is going to send people to my home to look at my kids, because they had a complete misreading of some part of the bill that had to do with funding for State pilot projects for home visitation, for people who want home visitation to help them with their health issues. This is information out there that is really not a credit to this honest public discourse and debate, which my colleague from New York alluded to, which is critical to have to come to a solution with regards to reducing costs and improving health care outcomes.

I am optimistic. The signs out of the Senate today are that this is truly officially, not only in name, but, indeed a bipartisan effort, as it should be, something of this magnitude. We are taking our time, and we are doing it right. We are 4 or 5 months into a debate that will take another month or two to reach culmination. Again, there is no veracity in people saying this is being rushed through in any way, shape or form.

I told my, again, constituents in Colorado our United States Congress has spent more time on health care reform than our legislature of Colorado meets for an entire year. They meet for about 4 1/2 months to consider every single issue that the State of Colorado faces. Our United States Congress, and many of us who come to Congress from a wide variety of disciplines, have had the time to become experts in health care.

That's something that we owe our constituents. I certainly know a lot more about health care than when I first got here. I had been expert in education, had run schools, been on a school board. I had started businesses, knew a lot about the business side. As a consumer I knew about health care. I had been on the board of a nonprofit relating to health care in Colorado.

But to get down into the weeds and have this historic once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of Americans is what public service is all about. That's why I join you in being excited about this tremendous opportunity that's before us at this point.

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Mr. POLIS. To build upon what Representative Kilroy and Representative Kagen said with regard to the critical nature of preventing discrimination based on preexisting conditions and exclusions based on preexisting conditions, it is important for those watching us today to know that that is in all four bills--sorry, all five bills. There are five health care bills; two in the Senate, both of which have cleared committee, and three in the House, all of which have cleared committee.

Every single bill, any of the health care reform proposals that is at all consistent with President Obama's principles and our principles here in the House as well as the other body would make that basic major change, that no longer would people be excluded based on preexisting conditions or would those conditions be excluded.

I applaud Representative Kilroy for sharing her very powerful personal story. It is a personal story that is

all too common. Later on tonight, in about an hour and a half, I will be sharing a couple-dozen personal stories from Colorado with members of the public with regard to the travails that many of my constituents have had with the health care system, many of which relate to discrimination based on preexisting conditions.

Representative Kilroy also discussed briefly small business. One of the most important things that we can do to make small business competitive in this country is to reform health care. The brunt of our health care system falls on small business. Frequently for the same coverage, they pay more than large businesses. If they have somebody in a small risk pool who has a problem or has a preexisting condition, they might be paying three or four times as much even for their healthy employees because of their small risk pool.

We are joined today in the House gallery by a small businessman from my congressional district. Mr. Wayland Lewis, who is with us here today, runs a small online publishing company. What a difference affordable health care would make to him and the countless small business people like him across the country that are the backbone of the American free enterprise system, for them to have access to exchanges, the same way we here in Congress do, the same way that big multinational corporations do, one large risk pool, no discrimination based on the preexisting conditions in a small risk pool, and also some tax credits, by the way, for providing health care for their employees. What a difference that would make and what a job-creation engine in this time of recession, to have that vote of confidence in our small businesses and allow them to do what they know is right.

When I talk to small business people in my district that don't provide insurance, it is not because they don't want to. It is not because they don't feel they could be more competitive in attracting employees if they did. It is because they simply can't afford to under the status quo. That is one of the major tenets of this reform: Making America healthier, costing less, and, yes, providing the same kinds of advantages for small and medium-sized businesses that big multinational corporations have had all along, and being able to offer health care and security for the families that work for them.

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