David Price: “``once to every man and nation,'' wrote the great abolitionist poet James Russell Lowell, ``comes the moment to…”

“``once to every man and nation,'' wrote the great abolitionist poet James Russell Lowell, ``comes the moment to decide.'' Mr. Speaker, there are moments in history when it becomes clear that we simply cannot wait any longer to do what is right. When we have the opportunity to take a significant step to make our country better, the sort of opportunity that comes only a few times in a lifetime. We face such a moment tonight. Our health insurance system is falling far short of the American peoples' basic needs. It isn't working for families, who have seen their insurance premiums increase 75 percent over the past decade, while their earnings have risen only 14 percent. It isn't working for young adults, whose parents' policies stop covering them in their early twenties in most states, as if people that age don't need health insurance. It isn't working for people who have pre-existing conditions and can't find affordable coverage. It isn't working for the countless Americans whose coverage has been revoked when they get sick and need it most. And it isn't working for small business owners who want to provide coverage for their employees but can't access the low group rates that insurance companies willingly negotiate with large employers.”