Health Care Costs

HEALTH CARE COSTS -- (House of Representatives - September 28, 2004)

(Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, in the last 4 years the Republican majority of this House and the Bush administration have failed to address the skyrocketing cost of health care. Today's news shows this problem has rapidly deteriorated into a crisis.

Let me quote The Washington Post: "Higher Costs, Less Care. Nationwide, workers' cost for health insurance has risen by 36 percent since 2000, dwarfing the average 12.4 percent increase in their wages since President Bush took office."

In a study by Families USA, they found the cost of health care increased three times what the average household's earnings have increased since the year 2000; 14.3 million Americans are now spending more than a quarter of their income on medical costs, an increase of 2.7 million people. There are 5 million fewer jobs providing health benefits, and small businesses are seeing the sharpest decline. This is a problem that affects every middle-class family in the Nation.

Today, we have cancer patients who determine for themselves whether their chances of survival are good enough to invest in the more effective and expensive treatments because they do not want to burden their family with costs.

Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of a health care crisis. This administration and this Republican majority have nothing to say about it and have thwarted efforts to bring down those costs.