Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the Republican leader just came to the floor, as he has with regularity, to speak to the issue of health care reform. We are all addressing it because it is a major issue we are facing in this Congress, a major opportunity for this country to deal with a health care system that needs to be fixed. There are parts of it that are very strong but parts of it that need to be fixed.

The cost of health care today in America is going up so fast that it is outstripping the ability of individuals and businesses to buy health insurance coverage. We have seen the cost of premiums go up three times faster than wages. The story is obvious. For most workers across America, the choice each year is take-home pay or increased costs for health insurance, and they understand it is unsustainable.

Just 10 years ago, the cost of a health insurance plan for a family of four was $6,000. This year, it is $12,000, on average. Ten years from now, it will be $24,000. To think that 10 years from now people will have to work to earn $2,000 a month just to pay for the health care for a small family tells you we have to make a change.

The Senator from Kentucky on the Republican side came to the floor to criticize not the Senate bill but the House bill. I would say to the Senator from Kentucky, in all fairness, let's address the Senate bill which will be reported this week. It has literally been reviewed by the Congressional Budget Office for the last 3 or 4 weeks, and it will come out this week and be posted on the Internet for everyone to read in its entirety. At that point, I think the criticisms leveled by the Senator from Kentucky will be put in context. Let's look at the Senate bill.

I would also like to stand here and wave before you a copy of the Republican bill on health care reform, but it does not exist. There is no Republican alternative to health care reform. They are satisfied with the current system. They want to keep the status quo. Like the health insurance companies, they are happy with what exists. But most Americans, and certainly those I represent in Illinois, know better. They know we are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to health care if we have to rely on health insurance companies for permission for coverage because they are going to say no. Repeatedly, they say no. They deny you coverage when you need it the most, because of a preexisting condition. They deny you coverage because they say it costs too much. They deny you coverage because they don't want to cover a certain drug and they want to challenge you to fight them and appeal that decision. They deny coverage when you decide to change a job or lose a job. They deny coverage when a child reaches the age of 23 and is so-called emancipated and on his own. That is the existing system which the Republicans are supporting. They can support it if they wish, but most Americans do not. Most Americans want to see real health care reform.

Let's spend a moment speaking about Medicare, which the Senator from Kentucky addressed. Our goal is not only to preserve Medicare. As a political party, it was Democrats who created Medicare. It was Republicans who called it socialized medicine and opposed it. Over the years, they have tried to trim back on Medicare benefits, to reduce coverage and turn Medicare over to private insurers. That effort was called Medicare Advantage. When private health insurance companies came before Congress and said: We can do a better job than the government, we can offer Medicare coverage at a lower cost and do it more efficiently because we are the private sector, Republicans accepted that premise and tried to take away Medicare coverage from the government and offer it to private health insurance companies.

What happened? Some private health insurance companies did do it at a lower cost but not all of them. In fact, when it was all said and done, Medicare Advantage, this so-called private rescue of the Medicare Program, ended up costing 14 percent more than the Medicare Program itself. In other words, the Medicare Program was subsidizing private health insurance companies that couldn't keep their promise to deliver Medicare at a lower cost.

The Senator from Kentucky comes to the Chamber to defend those private health insurance companies, defend the subsidy they receive at the expense of Medicare. That is unacceptable and indefensible. Medicare offers the basic plan most Americans trust when they reach the age of 65. We are going to find a way to make sure we put Medicare on sound footing. The future of Medicare is in doubt if we don't deal with the underlying problems in our health care system today.

The Senator from Kentucky and his Republican side have no alternative. They are not offering health care reform or change. They are standing with the health insurance companies, defending Medicare Advantage, which enjoys this healthy subsidy from the Federal Government, and, frankly, not supporting our efforts to bring real reform to health insurance.

I can tell my colleagues the Medicare provisions in the House bill referred to
by the Senator from Kentucky were supported by AARP. They have been supported by other organizations: the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. How does the Senator from Kentucky explain that; that they would endorse this approach to Medicare while he says it would destroy Medicare. Frankly, he happens to be mistaken. What we are doing is putting Medicare on a sound financial footing, reducing the increase in cost in medical procedures so Medicare isn't stripped of the basic funds it has.

In fact, when it is all said and done, we find that the House bill, the bill the Senator from Kentucky references, extends the life of the Medicare trust fund by an additional 5 years. How does the Senator from Kentucky explain that? If this is destroying Medicare, how does this health care reform extend its life?

Under the bill, overall national spending on health care would increase by only .8 percent over the next 10 years, compared to current law, even though 34 million Americans would be gaining coverage. Under the bill, out-of-pocket spending on health care would decline by more than $200 billion over what it would have been by the year 2019.

When it comes to Medicare Advantage, the Senator from Kentucky says it offers more benefits for seniors. I am not opposed to offering more benefits for seniors, but I wish to make sure each and every senior under Medicare has a basic Medicare package they can count on and afford and that Medicare is put on a permanent, sound financial footing. Unfortunately, on the Republican side, they have offered no alternative.

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