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Hardworking Americans are held hostage by health insurance companies that deny them coverage, drop their coverage, or charge fees that they can't afford for care that they desperately need.
I believe it is wrong.
It is bankrupting families and businesses, and that's why we are going to pass health insurance reform in 2009.
Even before this recession hit, we had an economy that was working pretty well, for the wealthiest Americans.
It was working pretty well for Wall Street bankers.
It was working pretty well for big corporations, but it wasn't working so well for everybody else.
It was an economy of bubbles and busts, and we can't go back to that kind of economy.
If we want this country to succeed in the 21st century and if we want our children to succeed in the 21st century, then we're going to have to take the steps necessary to lay a new foundation for economic growth.
We need to build an economy that works for everybody, not just some people.
Health insurance reform is one of those pillars that we need to build up that new foundation.
I don't have to explain to you that nearly 47 million Americans don't have health insurance coverage today.
In the wealthiest nation on earth, 47 million have no coverage. They're just vulnerable. If something happens, they go bankrupt, or they don't get the care they need.
But it's just as important that we accomplish health insurance reform for the Americans who do have health insurance, because right now, we have a health care system that too often works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people, and we've got to change that.
Under the reform we're proposing, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. You will not be waiting in any lines. This is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance.
A recent report actually shows that in the past three years over 12 million Americans were discriminated against by insurance companies because of a pre-existing condition.
Either the insurance company refused to cover the person, or they dropped their coverage when they got sick and they needed it most; where they refused to cover a specific illness or condition; or they charged higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
No one holds these companies accountable for these practices.
That is wrong, and that will change when we pass health care reform. That is going to be a priority.
Under the reform we're proposing, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage because of a person's medical history. Period.
They will not be able to drop your coverage if you get sick. They will not be able to water down your coverage when you need it.
Your health insurance should be there for you when it counts, not just when you're paying premiums, but when you actually get sick, and it will be when we pass this plan.
Now, when we pass health insurance reform, insurance companies will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime.
We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses because no one in America should go broke because they get sick.
We will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopy.
There's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer on the front end.
That makes sense. It saves lives.
It also saves money, and we need to save money in this health care system.
So, this is what reform is about. For all the chatter and the yelling and the shouting and the noise, what you need to know is this: if you don't have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options once we pass reform.
If you do have health insurance, we will make sure that no insurance company or government bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need, and we will do this without adding to our deficit over the next decade, largely by cutting out the waste and insurance company giveaways in Medicare that aren't making any of our seniors healthier.
Despite all the hand-wringing pundits and the best efforts of those who are profiting from the status quo, we are closer to achieving health insurance reform than we have ever been.
We have the American Nurses Association supporting it.
We have the American Medical Association on board.
America's doctors and nurses know firsthand how badly we need reform.
We have broad agreement in Congress on what we're trying to do.
We have an agreement from the drug companies to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. We can cut the doughnut hole in half if we pass reform.
We have the AARP on board because they know this is a good deal for our seniors.
For all the scare tactics out there, what is truly scary, what is truly risky is if we do nothing.
If we let this moment pass, if we keep the system the way it is right now, we will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day.
Your premiums will continue to skyrocket. They have gone up three times faster than your wages, and they will keep on going up. Insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against people for the simple crime of being sick.
Our deficit will continue to grow, because Medicare and Medicaid are on an unsustainable path. Medicare is slated to go into the red in about eight to 10 years. If I was a senior citizen, the thing I'd be worried about right now is Medicare running out of money because we haven't done anything to make sure that we're getting a good bang for our buck when it comes to health care.
If you want a health care system that works for the American people as well as it works for the insurance companies, knock on doors, talk to your neighbors, spread the facts.
Let's get this done.
I believe it is wrong.
It is bankrupting families and businesses, and that's why we are going to pass health insurance reform in 2009.
Even before this recession hit, we had an economy that was working pretty well, for the wealthiest Americans.
It was working pretty well for Wall Street bankers.
It was working pretty well for big corporations, but it wasn't working so well for everybody else.
It was an economy of bubbles and busts, and we can't go back to that kind of economy.
If we want this country to succeed in the 21st century and if we want our children to succeed in the 21st century, then we're going to have to take the steps necessary to lay a new foundation for economic growth.
We need to build an economy that works for everybody, not just some people.
Health insurance reform is one of those pillars that we need to build up that new foundation.
I don't have to explain to you that nearly 47 million Americans don't have health insurance coverage today.
In the wealthiest nation on earth, 47 million have no coverage. They're just vulnerable. If something happens, they go bankrupt, or they don't get the care they need.
But it's just as important that we accomplish health insurance reform for the Americans who do have health insurance, because right now, we have a health care system that too often works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people, and we've got to change that.
Under the reform we're proposing, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. You will not be waiting in any lines. This is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance.
A recent report actually shows that in the past three years over 12 million Americans were discriminated against by insurance companies because of a pre-existing condition.
Either the insurance company refused to cover the person, or they dropped their coverage when they got sick and they needed it most; where they refused to cover a specific illness or condition; or they charged higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
No one holds these companies accountable for these practices.
That is wrong, and that will change when we pass health care reform. That is going to be a priority.
Under the reform we're proposing, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage because of a person's medical history. Period.
They will not be able to drop your coverage if you get sick. They will not be able to water down your coverage when you need it.
Your health insurance should be there for you when it counts, not just when you're paying premiums, but when you actually get sick, and it will be when we pass this plan.
Now, when we pass health insurance reform, insurance companies will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime.
We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses because no one in America should go broke because they get sick.
We will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopy.
There's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer on the front end.
That makes sense. It saves lives.
It also saves money, and we need to save money in this health care system.
So, this is what reform is about. For all the chatter and the yelling and the shouting and the noise, what you need to know is this: if you don't have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options once we pass reform.
If you do have health insurance, we will make sure that no insurance company or government bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need, and we will do this without adding to our deficit over the next decade, largely by cutting out the waste and insurance company giveaways in Medicare that aren't making any of our seniors healthier.
Despite all the hand-wringing pundits and the best efforts of those who are profiting from the status quo, we are closer to achieving health insurance reform than we have ever been.
We have the American Nurses Association supporting it.
We have the American Medical Association on board.
America's doctors and nurses know firsthand how badly we need reform.
We have broad agreement in Congress on what we're trying to do.
We have an agreement from the drug companies to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. We can cut the doughnut hole in half if we pass reform.
We have the AARP on board because they know this is a good deal for our seniors.
For all the scare tactics out there, what is truly scary, what is truly risky is if we do nothing.
If we let this moment pass, if we keep the system the way it is right now, we will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day.
Your premiums will continue to skyrocket. They have gone up three times faster than your wages, and they will keep on going up. Insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against people for the simple crime of being sick.
Our deficit will continue to grow, because Medicare and Medicaid are on an unsustainable path. Medicare is slated to go into the red in about eight to 10 years. If I was a senior citizen, the thing I'd be worried about right now is Medicare running out of money because we haven't done anything to make sure that we're getting a good bang for our buck when it comes to health care.
If you want a health care system that works for the American people as well as it works for the insurance companies, knock on doors, talk to your neighbors, spread the facts.
Let's get this done.
