Senate Proceeding on Oct 26th, 2009 :: 3:27:10 to 3:38:20
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3:27:03 to 3:27:23( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: madam president, i ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. thpresiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: madam president, yesterday i got a call from my friend, my colleague from pennsylvania, senator specter. he said have you read "the new york times" yet? i said well, no, as a matter of

3:27:10 to 3:38:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Tom Harkin

3:27:24 to 3:27:45( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: fact, i he said there was a front page sunday about what was happening with small businesses. and in terms of their insurance rates going up unduly and huge increases. i said well, no, i haven't read about it.

3:27:46 to 3:28:07( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: i'll get the paper and read it, because it struck a chord with me because somehow over the several weeks, i have gotten an influx of inquiries to me personally and to my offices from small businesses in iowa, some e my state wondering what was

3:28:08 to 3:28:30( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: happening to the huge increases in their premiums this year. they have always been used to increa seemed undulyarge. plus a lot of co-pays and deductibles were going up. so i went out and got the newspaper and read the story in "the new york times" that senator specter had pointed

3:28:31 to 3:28:53( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: to me, and it really was alarming. as i said, i thought about all the inquiries that had come into my office. there is something that's going on out there. so w bill now reform that will be going down to c.b.o. i guess today for scoring.

3:28:54 to 3:29:16( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: i want to for his leade i was actually in pittsburgh today giving a lecture on disability policy at the university of pittsburgh law school with former attorney ge endowed the law school with an document

3:29:17 to 3:29:38( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: they have a very strong legal scholarship program dealing with disability law at the university of pittsburgh law school. a and so i had rushed back from there so i could be on the floor with senator specter so i could just talk about bit. because there is something very funny going on.

3:29:39 to 3:29:59( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: so when i was in the airport, i saw that senator reid had said that he was sending the bill down to c.b.o. for scoring. i really want to commend senator reid for his leadership and for putting in a strong option. i'm told it's basically the public option that -- that the senator from north carolina worked so hard on in our committee to develop, and i

3:30:00 to 3:30:20( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: guess he married that up with part o the provisions from the finance bill that would allow the states to opt out, if i'm not mistaken, by so i really commend senator reid for putting that strong public option in the bill. i think american people want that. they trying to keep some control on

3:30:21 to 3:30:42( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: costs and -- and leaving more choice and more competion for policyholder out policyholders out there. and as a matter of fact, this would be a great help to small businesses because small businesses could go on exchange and they would have that public option also available to them.

3:30:43 to 3:31:03( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: and i've said before many times, madam president biggest winners that i can see in our health reform bill that we have the self-employed. small businesses right now are rely at the end of the line. they're whipsawed all over the place. they have no bargaing power whatsoever.

3:31:04 to 3:31:27( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: the same with the self-employed. this bill will turn the tables by providing t by providing more help for small businesses. they'll be able much better to negotiate among different policies rather

3:31:28 to 3:31:49( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: than what they have right now. right now in many cases, they get one or two and that's about it in a lot of states, one or two different insurance companies and that's it. in "the new york times" article, some suggest the insurance companie rates to generate as much revenue as possible before the health reform obliges them to change the way they do business.

3:31:50 to 3:32:13( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: now, isn't that interesting? so they're anticipating health reform passing so they want to ja up their premiums as much as possible before that happens. others were asserting that the industry was responding to wall street's demands for ever higher profits in the health insurance industry, that wall street is putting pressure on them to increase their profit margin.

3:32:14 to 3:32:34( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: well, ask people, why are we doing health reform? are we doing health reform help the health insurance industry, or are we doing health reform to help the american people? that ought to be our first -- our first response is that we're here to help the american

3:32:35 to 3:32:55( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: health insurance industry. i've had so many small businesses tell me how tough they've had it newspaper in iowa that had 12 employees. the owner, art cullen, recently turned 50. their insurance premiums for his small business jumped by 58% in one year and more than 100% in

3:32:56 to 3:33:16( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: two years. and they have a $5,000 deductible. i said to don't you go get another company? he said, i can't. i've only got one in this area that will offer us insurance. again, that's why we need exchanges, why we need health

3:33:17 to 3:33:37( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: reform, so art cullen and a lot of other small businesses can join with other businesses around country on these exchanges to get a better deal. mike landaur owns a muff ler shop. he has he offers insurance to his premiums have jumped 66% in the last three years.

3:33:38 to 3:33:59( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: his deductibles have gone from $4,000 to $16,000. deductibles. and now mike is expensive. he was born with a congenital heart disease so he just dropped himself from his company's policy. here's the owner of the took himself out of the pool. but he can't get individual insurance because of

3:34:00 to 3:34:20( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: his preexisting condition. now he's worried he'll have to sell his small business, all because of the excessive health insurance costs. now, madam president, this is unconsequen as we speakers as i said, the majority leader is spending his -- as we speak, as i said, the majori billown to the c.b.o.

3:34:21 to 3:34:43( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: make no mistake, the bill that we are bringing to the floor will offer real solutions for our th insurance through an exchange so they can choose among multiple pls at lower cost than are available now in the small group market. again, let me point out, small expwises the self-employed can go on the exchanges and if they want, they also are eligible for

3:34:44 to 3:35:04( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: the public option also. it will sharply reduce in our bill the adminis that drives up the cost of insurance through such practices as medical underwriting and pree clauses. we provide a new small business tax credit to make insurance more affordable for the most vulnerable small businesses. we make new investments in wellness and disease prevention

3:35:05 to 3:35:25( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: for all businesses, including small businesses. in addition, we'll put a stop to the outrageous and unacceptable insurance industry practices that harm the ability of our small empyers to cover their workers. we will require that insurance companies document how much of each

3:35:26 to 3:35:46( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: medical expenses -- think about that, we're going to require that insurance companies document premium dollar goes for expenses and we're going to require rebates for excessive overhead charges. we'll end the broken status quo where insurance tens of millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses while their

3:35:47 to 3:36:08( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: small business customers go out of business becau they can't afford health insurance. we'll end the exceptional and unwarranted antitrust exemptions that the industry has enjoyed without public benefit for far too long. and we'll end the ability of insurers to j as much as 160%, which is what they did for one small business

3:36:09 to 3:36:30( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: because they thought the group was, quote, too old," so therefore they jacked up their premiums by 160%. and specter for having a keen eye and for giving me a hea occupy this yesterday -- head's up on this yesterday. because there is something

3:36:31 to 3:36:51( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: happenin now all over this country -- there is something happening out there right now all country. so to america's small business community, we have a simple message: help hep is on the way. we're going to get this hea reform bill done and we are going to help our small businesses and the self-employed

3:36:52 to 3:37:12( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: self-employed. i just -- i just hop can hang on long enough so we can get this bill through and hopefully get it through bore the he happened of the engineer that next year when -- of the year so that next year when their policies are up for renewal, we won't see this kind of huge increase or gouging our small businesses. so, reform.

3:37:13 to 3:37:34( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: we always think about it in terms of individuals and how this affects individuals but we also think about how it affects the majority of workers in this country who work for small businesses. who don't have the kind of large businesses and bigger industries have.

3:37:35 to 3:37:57( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: and so that's why, again, i repeat, this health reform bill is so important, so important, for everyone in this country. but none more so than the small businesses and the self-employed. and i am hopeful that along with senator specter, i'm hopeful that we can bring some more of this to light. and i encourage anyone that has

3:37:58 to 3:38:18( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: any -- any indication -- any evidence, any -- any stories, anything that we can document of what the increases are to small businesses, please get them in to us. like i said, i've heard about enough of these to know it's not just a few here and there, it must be more widespread than that. so we need those and hopefully

3:38:19 to 3:38:21( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: we can shed more light on this as we move forward to bring the