George Voinovich: “I rise to speak about a bill my colleague Senator Bingaman and I introduced today, the Health Care Partnership Act. For…”

“I rise to speak about a bill my colleague Senator Bingaman and I introduced today, the Health Care Partnership Act. For too many years, I have listened to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle talk about the rising cost of health care and the growing number of uninsured Americans. Yet, we have not been able to make much progress here at the Federal level to find a meaningful solution for the dilemma this Nation is facing regarding access to quality, affordable health care. Next to the economy, it is the greatest domestic challenge facing our Nation. In fact, the rising cost of health care is a major part of what is hurting our competitiveness in the global marketplace. While surveys have indicated that health insurance premiums have stabilized--a 9.2 percent increase in 2006 and 2005 and compared with a 12.3 percent in 2004; 14.7 percent in 2003; and 15.2 percent in 2002-- health insurance costs continue to be a significant factor impacting American competitiveness. In addition, the share of costs that individuals have paid for employer sponsored insurance has risen roughly 2 percent each year, from 31.4 percent of health care costs in 2001 to 38.4 percent this year. In fact, spending on health care in the United States reached $1.9 trillion in 2004--almost 16.5 percent of our GDP--the largest share ever.…”