Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Madam President, as I rise today to speak in support of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, I wish to say that this is truly historic legislation which I am very proud to support which will ensure all Americans will have access to quality, affordable health care. It will at long last make the necessary changes to contain costs that have truly spiraled out of control, and it will make enormous progress to address the many disparities in our health care system that are discriminatory toward women.
The Congressional Budget Office has determined this bill will provide coverage for more than 94 percent of Americans--98 percent when accounting for the elderly population--while reducing the spiraling costs of health care and trimming the deficit over the next 10 years and beyond.
Sixty years after Harry Truman first talked about the need to guarantee affordable, quality health care for all Americans, we are on the brink of a historic vote to move one step closer to achieving this goal.
In 1994, the last time we seriously considered health care reform, opponents argued that if we reformed our health care system, health care spending would skyrocket and health care quality and access would decrease. The opponents succeeded in 1994, and health reform was defeated. But in the absence of reform, look at what has actually occurred. Since 1994, family premiums have risen by over 150 percent. In 1993, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family coverage was $5,000. This year, the cost for coverage is over $13,000 per year. By 2016, family health insurance is expected to reach over $24,000. In my State of New York, that is simply unaffordable.
Today, we spend more than 16 percent of our gross domestic product on health care, nearly twice the average of other developed nations--an astounding $2.2 trillion every year. What do we get in return? More than 47 million Americans are uninsured. In 2007 and 2008, 86.7 million Americans--1 out of every 3 Americans under 65--went without health insurance for a period of time. Every day, 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance.
Many of the same opponents who defeated reform in 1994 are trying to do it again. I ask them to please consider what has actually occurred over the last 15 years. Think about the damage that has been caused to our economy, our families, our workers, and consider taking a stand that is on the right side of history this time.
The bill before us lays a foundation for truly reforming our health care system. I commend Majority Leader Reid for his work in merging the two Senate committee bills.
This bill includes a robust public plan for which I have strongly advocated. I believe this will increase competition and lower costs across the system. Through a public plan and the establishment of health insurance exchanges, the bill makes quality health care truly affordable and accessible to everyone--all Americans. The health insurance exchanges will streamline the system and offer insurance at affordable premium rates, capped by income, for low- and middle-income Americans. No longer will health care be out of the reach of millions because of cost.
This bill also ends discrimination against women, which we have faced in our health care system for far too long. Women shoulder the worst of the health care crisis, including outrageous discriminatory practices in care and coverage. The National Women's Law Center reports that a 25-year-old woman pays up to 45 percent more for the same health insurance coverage than a man her age. Some of the most essential services required by women are simply not covered by insurance plans, such as childbearing, Pap smears, and mammograms. A standard in-hospital delivery costs between $5,000 and $10,000, and much more if there are complications. This bill ends the practice of denying health care to those with preexisting conditions. In the current system, pregnant women are often turned down for health care coverage because insurance companies would rather evade this cost. Pregnancy should never be the basis for losing coverage. In America, this sort of institutionalized discrimination is wrong. This reform bill ends the practice of charging women more than men and requires that these basic health care services are included.
The bill also lays the groundwork to reward health care providers for the quality of care they provide, not necessarily the quantity. Hospitals and clinics across the country will model the success at places such as Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown in upstate New York. It also uses new methods to reduce medical errors and prevent costly illnesses.
Some would prefer that we continue on the current path, leaving millions without insurance and paying for it through a hidden tax that all insured Americans pay to cover the cost of emergency care. But the majority of Americans think the time has now come to address this problem and fix our broken system.
The vote today is an important step on the road to reform. In the next few weeks, we will all have the opportunity to debate this bill and make important modifications. I am encouraged to see improvements from previous bills in the merged bill before us, including [Page: S11919] better protections for middle-class families' benefits and increased funding to States for Medicaid, both of which I look forward to continuing to improve.
