On the recordMarch 9, 2010
I have just introduced a simple 4-page bill that allows any American to buy into Medicare at cost. Let me explain why I have done that. I have five children. When one of my children was born, I found out from the insurance company that the insurance company would not pay for the birth of my child. I had what I thought was excellent health care coverage from this insurance company, but it turned out otherwise. As a result of that, I had to pay $10,000 for the birth of my child. You know, it could have been worse. Maybe I wouldn't have that $10,000. A lot of Americans face that situation when they have health care bills that their health insurance company won't cover. It could have been worse. I had twins who were born afterwards, who were born a month premature, spent weeks in the hospital. God only knows what those bills would have looked like. I probably would have been broke. But the fact is that I felt, like many Americans feel, that I had an adversarial relationship with my insurance company and that every penny they spent on my care was a penny less for their profits. And that is a fundamentally unfair situation that causes untold health care needs around this country that go unmet and, frankly, untold death. That's why we need another option. We need a public option. We're going to be seeing a Senate bill that doesn't have a public option. We're going to be seeing reconciliation that doesn't have a public option. But America needs a public option.
