Henry Waxman: “I have a question for the audience here today. Are we better off now than when President Bush took office? When you look…”

“I have a question for the audience here today. Are we better off now than when President Bush took office? When you look at health care it certainly does not look like it. Since President Bush took office an additional 3.8 million Americans are uninsured, and for Americans lucky enough to have health insurance, their premiums have increased by almost 50 percent since President Bush took office. In fact, total family premiums have risen more than $2,700 in 4 years, a rate four times as fast as workers' salaries. This is basically a tax increase on the middle class. It is hard to be healthy when you have to choose between paying rent and going to the doctor. This is a real crisis. It has real consequence. Eighteen thousand people die prematurely each year because they do not have health insurance. And how do the administration and the Republicans running the Congress respond? With special interest proposals like tort reform, health savings account and association health plans. These proposals will not lower health care costs. We are not better off in these last 4 years.”