Calvin Dooley: “I rise in support of the association health plan proposal before us. The number one problem in health care facing…”

“I rise in support of the association health plan proposal before us. The number one problem in health care facing Americans is not their problems with their managed care organization; the number one problem facing Americans today is the fact that we have 43 million of our citizens who are uninsured. I represent a district in the Central Valley of California, one of the lowest income areas, one that has a lot of families that are farm workers. It is predominantly Latino in its makeup. Association health plans hold the promise of allowing associations to come together to offer these families and the children of these farm worker families a health insurance policy that otherwise would not be available to them. Mr. Chairman, we have to come to understand that what we are trying to do here is to provide a mechanism for farmers and small business people to come together, to come together so that they can offer a plan that is similar to what Boeing, Microsoft and GM are offering to their employees. This holds the promise of ensuring that some of those 43 million people, some of whom are living in my district, some of whom have the lowest incomes, will have access to a quality health insurance plan that otherwise they would be denied.”