Date: 2005-05-03
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. we all know someone who is living without health insurance. The perception is that the uninsured dont work. Over 80 percent of the uninsured have jobs. Most work in retail and service industries. but many are small business owners and employees. They are the individuals who care for our children. check our groceries. or run the local pharmacy. Americans who work hard for a living. should have health insurance. Often times. the uninsured ignore their medical problems and delaying doctors visits. Children go without vaccines because visiting the doctor is just too expensive. They are gambling that they wont get seriously ill. But those who lose face staggering medical bills. Millions of dollars and many lives can be saved with timely medical attention. Almost one quarter of Texans are uninsured. This is the highest rate of uninsured in the United States. In Dallas. 25 percent of the population is uninsured. Despite the number of Texans who are uninsured. medical assistance programs continue to be cut. In 2003. the Texas Health and Human Services Commission implemented budget cuts to the Childrens Health Insurance Program. CHIP was designed to help families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. but not enough to afford pdvate medical insurance. These budget cuts made it more difficult for families to qualify for CHIP. It also imposed higher premiums and copayments. In addition. there is now a 90 day waiting period before coverage begins. There is no longer any coverage for dental care. vision. or mental health. And families are now required to reapply for CHIP every 6 months. Since the budget cuts. over 175 thousand children have been dropped from CHIP. Less than half of those children were able to find another form of medical insurance. For weeks now this Congress has dealt with legislation that harms some of our most vulnerable citizens. Many of whom are dealing with serious medical difficulties. Staggering medical bills and considerable debt is a problem for many uninsured Americans. Many of these individuals are forced to file bankruptcy. Last month the House passed the Bankruptcy Reform Bill. With these changes. those with moderate or higher incomes are now required to pay back most. if not all. of their debt. For example. under these reforms an uninsured family who has a child to cancer will now be saddled with those medical bills indefinitely. Mr. Speaker. last month the House also passed the Energy Bill. This was NOT a positive bill for Americans whose health depends on clean air and clean water. Under the Clean Air Act. areas that have unhealthy air were required to reduce ozoneforming pollution by strict deadlines. The Energy Bill extends these deadlines allowing polluters more time to continue polluting. This means more asthma attacks. hospital visits. and premature deaths for residents in highly polluted areas. Today. 45 million American are uninsured. Even those families that do have health inpurance today. fear they may not have coverage tomorrow. The truth is that no American family is more than one job change. one corporate cost cut. or one serious illness or accident away from being uninsured. This country faces an uphill battle in solving this health crisis. Now is the time for this Congress to address this problem with innovative ideas and actions. E 2320 PEAK OIL