Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today we stand at a crossroad. We can continue to turn a blind eye to the very real, very dangerous threat burgeoning health care costs pose to our economic future or we can choose the path to restoring economic opportunity in this country by tackling what my dear friend, Ted Kennedy, called the ``great unfinished business of our society.''
As so often is the case at any major crossroads in our history, embarking on what we all know is the right path is difficult. Indeed, this is the single most difficult undertaking I have ever seen in my 30-year career as a legislator. But my colleagues and I know what has to be done. Tonight is only one step down the road. There will be more procedural hurdles, more disagreements, more pressure from our opponents, more television ads, and many amendments. But I have no doubt we will pass this bill.
There have been many attempts over many decades in many Congresses to reform health care. This time, moral and economic necessity will guide us over the finish line. It is unacceptable that in this country--the wealthiest, greatest country in the world--there are Americans who are forced to choose between their health care and rent, between their health care and food, between their health care and an education. But there are. And there are too many of them, and that must change.
Consider these facts: Health care costs are out of control. Premiums for New York families have doubled in the last decade. Premiums have risen far in excess of inflation while median income has remained stagnant. Costs have risen so much that more than 20 million Americans have skipped a doctor's visit for no reason other than cost and 23 million Americans have premiums so high they consume $1 out of every $8 earned. Health care costs now account for a staggering 16 percent of our GDP, far more than any other industrialized country in the world. For every dollar a small business in the United States spends on health care, its foreign competitors spend a mere 63 cents. Yet the health care of the U.S. workforce lags behind all other industrialized countries. Plain and simple, [Page: S11943] our small businesses will no longer be able to compete unless we act to reform health care.
Even among those Americans fortunate enough to have coverage, nearly 88 million don't have health care they can rely on. That is half of all Americans age 18 to 64 and their families. And 46 million of these Americans have a serious preexisting condition that has made it harder or more expensive for them to get coverage. In addition, 37 million of these Americans had a gap in their coverage during the last year.
Our health care system is holding our economy hostage. The entrepreneur in Binghamton who does not take a chance, who does not leave a job to start his own firm because he is afraid of losing his family's health care; the college graduate in Oswego, days away from losing her parents' coverage, takes a job because it provides health care, even though that health care eats up a quarter of her paycheck--each of these individuals who limit their potential because they are concerned about their health care should inspire action among all of us.
Passing this bill is an economic imperative. The broken system we have is not only a burden on the present, it is a tax on the future. Every day we do not act to fix the health care system is a day that handcuffs our economy. It drains it of productive workers who do not treat illness. It drains businesses of money they could otherwise use to innovate and outperform their foreign competitors, and it drains it of savings and wealth that every American should have in retirement as a reward for a lifetime of hard work.
Inaction is not an option. The consequences of failure are simply too high. Premiums will climb higher, benefits will erode further, businesses will buckle under the cost of insurance, and Medicare will go bankrupt. Yet our Republican colleagues would rather see us fail. At every turn, they have obstructed our path with procedural delays, with calculated misinformation, and sometimes with outright falsehood. I am amazed they are against a government health care plan, but they want to protect Medicare. Medicare is a government health care plan. You can't have it both ways.
Yet when Democrats move to protect consumers from insurance company abuses, Republicans fight to allow these companies to drop, deny, or limit coverage for the people who need it most. When Democrats tackle waste, fraud, and abuse in our health care system, Republicans cry foul to preserve the status quo. When Democrats fight to protect and strengthen Medicare for future generations, Republicans try to weaken it.
Tonight, there is no question what path our Republicans will take. They will follow the map handed to them by the big insurance companies--protecting industry profits, defending unfair practices, and ignoring the threat rising health care costs pose to America's economic future. They will continue to speak with two tongues against government health care and for Medicare. You can't have it both ways.
Our Republican colleagues will not stand in our way. The road ahead is not a smooth one, but the wind is now at our backs. The American people want reform, and we will have the votes to finally deliver it to them. Sure, changes will be made to improve the bill as we move forward, but we will pass this bill. We will finish this great, unfinished business.
