On the recordMarch 17, 2010
Well, we all know the stories of the insured. We all know the stories in our own districts and our own States about those people that have health insurance, but they blow through the deductible and then they blow through the annual, or they hit the maximum benefit package of that insurance, and then they're on their own. At that point they sell their house, and they often wind up in bankruptcy. The other part of what's happening is the downturn of the economy. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs. You lose your job, you lose your health care, you have no way of paying for COBRA. Even though this bill and the previous bills that this House has passed and the Senate has passed and become law do provide a subsidy to help people stay on COBRA, if you're unemployed, you have a heck of a time trying to make that payment. So people lose their jobs. They lose their insurance. They lose their health. They go bankrupt. And 45,000 Americans die because they've lost their insurance, or they never had it to begin with. So this is the story of America.
