Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise this evening to talk about healthcare. I will not have long remarks, but I do want to highlight a report that was just issued last week. The report I am holding is from the Census Bureau. The report is entitled ``Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2018,'' by the U.S. Census Bureau, dated September of 2019. On page 2, this fairly lengthy report, which goes on for about 29 or 30 pages, has the general comparison in healthcare coverage of uninsured numbers--those without insurance in 2017 versus 2018. This is what it says on page 2 of the report under ``Highlights'': In 2018, 8.5 percent of people, or 27.5 million, did not have health insurance at any point during the year. The uninsured rate and number of uninsured increased from 2017 (7.9 percent or 25.6 million). And then it refers to a figure and a table. Basically, what is outlined is a drop in the number of Americans covered. Looking at it another way, there was an increase in the number of uninsured from 25.6 million Americans to 27.5 million Americans--a difference of 1.9 million. Just for general reference, I will round that off to say that roughly 2 million people who had insurance in 2017 were uninsured in 2018. That is deeply troubling because the number of uninsured is up, not just generally from 2017 to 2018 but more broadly. It is a change in the trend lines where we have been for most of the last decade.…”