Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, throughout this debate, I have come to
the floor to share the stories of families and small business owners from my home State of Washington who were suffering under our broken health care system.

I talked about Washington State small business owners, from Kitsap and Kennewick--good people who wanted to cover their employees but who could not afford to continue to pay the skyrocketing premiums. I spoke about mothers and fathers in Seattle and Spokane, grandmothers and grandfathers east of the Cascades and the west--men and women from every part of my State, some barely holding on to their health insurance and some with no coverage at all.

I told the stories of so many people from so many different backgrounds, but each one of them shared a common thread: the health care system we have today didn't work for them. It failed our families one way or another over and over again.

I have received well over 10,000 letters from Washington State residents, and too many of them share that theme: stories of coverage dropped when they needed it most, premiums going up at rates of 20 or 30 or 40 percent, seniors struggling after falling into the doughnut hole. Terrible stories--stories of loved ones who were lost, of children and patients, brothers and sisters, stories about what they had to go through before they passed away--battling insurance companies, losing their coverage, fighting for their care, never giving up but fighting against powers too great for them to bear.

That is why I have fought so hard to reform our broken health insurance system--to fight for our families who need help, to level the playing field for people who just need a little support--for families with real struggles and real problems that we can work together to help. And that is why I am so proud to stand here today and say to those families, and so many others, that although we have not fixed everything that is wrong with our health care system overnight, we have taken a real step forward for people across my home State of Washington and across America.

Today, when President Obama signed health insurance into law, a number of significant improvements kicked in, and some of the worst practices of those insurance companies were tossed into the dustbin of history. Great changes went into effect immediately for families and small business owners, for children and seniors in Washington State and across the country.

Now that this bill is signed into law, if you ever worried about losing your coverage when you or a family member got sick, you don't have to worry anymore. It is no longer allowed. Now that this bill is signed into law, no family ever has to worry about the unreasonable and unfair lifetime caps on coverage that we have seen from insurance companies in the past. Now that this bill has been signed into law, never again will families have to fight for the preventive services they paid for and they deserve--families such as the Labrums, from Port Orchard, WA. Joseph Labrum sent a letter to me about his wife who went to her doctor complaining of pain in her breast. A mammogram failed to show anything, but she personally wasn't convinced. She knew something wasn't right and she knew there was a history of breast cancer in her family. So she asked for an MRI, but her doctor told her that her insurance company wouldn't pay for it, and she just couldn't pay for it on her own. After 3 years of fighting with her insurance company, 3 years of pain and uncertainty, she was finally able to convince them to take that test. By that time, her cancer had grown to 8 centimeters and required a full mastectomy, chemotherapy, and 8 weeks of radiation.

Joseph told me that he is convinced if his wife's care had been up to her doctor and not her insurance company she would have been cured with a minor lumpectomy and wouldn't have had to go through so much pain and suffering.

The bill President Obama signed into law today makes sure that starting today insurance companies will be required to cover preventive services with little or no cost on the part of Washington State patients. Starting today, Washington State families will have access to new streamlined assistance to help them appeal services that have been denied or not covered adequately by their insurance companies. This is going to help anyone who has ever felt buried under a blizzard of forms and denials, and it will start helping our families right away.

For small business owners, starting today, the health insurance market will begin working better for them. Starting today, people such as Mark Peters, the owner of a small technology company in Port Townsend, WA, will be able to better afford care for his employees. Months ago, Mark wrote to tell me that he offers insurance to his employees. He does the right thing. But last year, he got a letter from his insurance company raising rates by 25 percent. Mark told me his small business can't sustain increases like that. No business today can.

In our current health insurance system, small businesses are often at the mercy of the insurance company. They lack the leverage, they lack the negotiating power of larger firms, and they can't afford to hire a human resource department to spends days fighting and haggling for better rates. But those days are coming to an end. Starting today, thanks to the bill President Obama signed, small business owners such as Mark will immediately qualify for the first phase of a tax credit program to help them purchase insurance for their families and for their employees. That credit that will kick in immediately is up to 35 percent of the employer's contribution to coverage, which is going to make a huge difference for almost 100,000 small business owners in my State of Washington right away.

Starting today, if you are a young person or a senior citizen, you will also be helped immediately. Over 159,000 Washington State seniors who fall into that doughnut hole are going to have their brand-name prescription drug costs cut in half starting right away. The law that passed begins to close this destructive coverage gap, and the bill we are discussing today finishes the job and closes that doughnut hole once and for all.

Starting today, insurance companies are going to be required to permit young people to stay on family policies until the age of 26, which is especially important, I must say, now that so many young people are having trouble finding that first job. Again, real help for real people right away. That is why I supported this law, and that is why I fought so hard to get it.

We have been talking about reforming the health insurance system for a long time. Many leaders in this country have tried to fix this broken system. Each of them has failed. But today, thanks to the bill President Obama signed, we begin the move toward real reform--reform that will help families such as the Labrums and small business owners such as Mark Peters, and seniors and young people in Washington State and across the entire country; reform that will help people immediately, starting today, and that will move our families one step closer to lower premiums, more choices, and, at long last, the health care security and stability Americans deserve.

Starting today, things are looking brighter for millions of Americans who have waited far too long for the help they need and deserve.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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