On the recordMarch 19, 2010
It is my pleasure to stand up in support of this resolution in support of Women's History Month. It is important to note that here, in 2010, that insurance companies very often charge women exponentially more money to get health insurance than they do for men. Now why do they do that? Because health insurance companies have been empowered by the present system--not because they're venal or bad--but because it's their job, their business model, to take in as much money as they can and to give as little service as they can. That's their business model. It's their business model to try not to provide any insurance at all for the toughest to ensure, so they drop people who have any preexisting conditions or start to rack up needs, meaning people who get sick. They don't cover anyone who's over 65, because we, the Federal Government, decided 44 years ago, over the objections of many of my Republican friends, to create the Medicare system. But let's talk for a moment about this notion of jobs for women, jobs for men, jobs for the next generation. The idea that we can continue this way, putting 20 percent of every single dollar we produce in this country into health care is why, my friends, our wages have been stagnant for the last 8 years.
