Senate Proceeding 11-03-09 on Nov 3rd, 2009 :: 3:45:20 to 3:47:45
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3:45:18 to 3:45:38( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: floor. a senator: mr. p the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i take th time. i'm going to share it with the senator from minnesota, senator klobuchar, and the senator from delaware, senator kaufman, talking a little bit about health care reform, health insurance reform, the need for us

3:45:20 to 3:47:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Benjamin L. Cardin

3:45:39 to 3:46:00( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: quite frankly, on behalf of middle-income milies in america, the worst option, the very worst option we could do is to allow the status quo to continue. and during this time, i'm going to be quoting from some letters that i received from maryland families that are really hurting today. these are families, some of

3:46:01 to 3:46:21( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: which have health insurance, but they can't afford their health insurance or they're not certain they're going to have adequate coverage to deal with the needs of their families. and they're looking to us to help them deal with the problems of health insurance today.

3:46:22 to 3:46:43( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: the first problem, quite frankly, is the fact that it's just too expensive. health insurance in america is too expensive for so many families. as the senator from minnesota knows, i used the number 6, 12, 23 frequently. $6,000 is what it costs a family in maryland ten years ago for a

3:46:44 to 3:47:05( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: family health insurance policy. $6,000. maybe their employer paid rt of it, maybe they paid part of it. $6,000 for adequate coverage. today that number is $12,000 a family. many families in hard time affording $12,000 of their compensation going to pay for their health insurance. but guess what? by the year 2016, it's going to

3:47:06 to 3:47:27( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: be do anything about health insurance reform. now, today that money that the families are represents what insured families are paying for people who don't have health insurance. so i'm frequently asked what

3:47:28 to 3:47:46( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: about these 46 million, 47 million americans who have no health insurance? shouldn't they take care of themselves? i say, yes, we should have personal responsibility. but today those who have insurance are paying extra costs for those who don't have health insurance. and one of those important points of health insurance reform is to make sure that everybody pays their fair load