Frank Pallone: “I wanted to say that what the gentlewoman is saying about this being perceived as a national security issue I think is…”

“I wanted to say that what the gentlewoman is saying about this being perceived as a national security issue I think is very legitimate because the bottom line is that the number of uninsured children is growing. I keep pointing out to my colleagues, my constituents as well that a few years ago when the President took up the issue of health care and was trying to put together a universal health care plan at the Federal level, he was doing it because he realized that the number of uninsured in general in the country was growing. We had figures then by the year 2000 there were going to be, I do not know how many, I think then it was 30, now it is 40 million uninsured and it would be even higher by 2000. That problem has not gone away. The number of children that are uninsured continues to grow. We had information from the Children's Defense Fund which has been one of the organizations that has been taking a lead on this issue, and they said that back in June 1996, which is when the Democrats first started to put together this families first agenda that they just gave an exponential chart about how the number just continued to grow. Since 1989, the number of children without private health insurance has grown by an average of 1.2 million every year, or 3,300 a day. If this trend continues, there will be 12.6 million children without private coverage by 2000. What the gentlewoman is saying about this being a national security problem I think is totally legitimate.”