Frank Pallone: “health insurance reform is long overdue. As we know, fewer Americans are able to obtain health insurance now, and the…”

“health insurance reform is long overdue. As we know, fewer Americans are able to obtain health insurance now, and the cost of that health insurance keeps going up. So my colleague, the gentlewoman from New Jersey, Mrs. Roukema, had a very good idea, which is shared in the Senate by Senator Kassebaum and Senator Kennedy on a bipartisan basis, to put forth a bill in this House that would make it easier for people to take health insurance from one job to another. We call that portability. We also try to make it easier for people who have preexisting conditions or perhaps were disabled with some sort of health disorder, that they would be able to buy health insurance. We are all supportive of this. The Democrats, over 170, have said that they support it, but the Republican leadership here is trying to load down this bill with all kinds of extraneous material in terms of the best example is medical savings accounts that will actually drive up the cost of health insurance for the average person and make health insurance less affordable. It is time now that we got together on a bipartisan basis and passed the Kennedy-Kassebaum-Roukema bill to make health insurance more affordable and make it possible for more people to obtain health insurance.”