Senate Proceeding on Sep 23rd, 2009 :: 0:51:10 to 0:54:35
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0:51:07 to 0:51:27( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: control, and that means driving health care costs down. i'd like to yield four minutes of our time to my distinguished friend w appropriate in his cousin's footsteps there, the distinguished new senator from new mexico. mr. udall: thank you,

0:51:10 to 0:54:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Tom Udall

0:51:28 to 0:51:48( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: mr. president, i seek recognition. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: i'm proud to join our class on the floor to talk about the cost of inaction. health insurance reform is one of the defining challenges of our time. every person in our country has a stake in what we do at this moment in this place. and while there are a lot of proposals out there, there's one

0:51:49 to 0:52:11( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: thing we know for sure: maintaining the status quo is not an option. it's been what's been done for years. it's been the easy choice. kick the can down the road a couple of yards, a couple of years, but never get at the root of the problem. maintaing the status quo is the coward's way out, and you don't need an economics degree

0:52:12 to 0:52:33( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: to see where that approach has gotten us. part of meeting the challenge of reforming health insurance is ing honest about the consequences we face if we don't. so i ris today to talk about the high price of doing nothing. it's a price we will all pay, a human price, an economic price,

0:52:34 to 0:52:55( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: a societal price. all equally devastating if we don't muster the courage, if we don't have the political will to stand up and say, not anymore, not on our watch. the human price is the price we feel most personally when we see

0:52:56 to 0:53:16( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: our family and friends, our neighbors struggling to obtain health care, to afford health care or to hold on to the health care they already have. if we do nothing, if we maintain the status quo, more americans will be uninsured or underinsured. more americans will become sick. more will die because of the

0:53:17 to 0:53:37( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: lack o and more families will experience financial ruin. a new report that came out last week found that family premiums have already increased by about 5% this year. and over t past ten years premiums have gone up 171%.

0:53:38 to 0:53:59( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: it's a vicious cycle, and america's families, america's workers and businesses, especially small businesses, they just can't keep up. in new mexico we've been paying the human price of the status quo for years. in my state, nearly one in four residents lack health insurance. that makes us the second-highest

0:54:00 to 0:54:21( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: uninsured state in the nation. and three quarters of the uninsured new mexicans work or are from working families. added to that, 80 more new mexicans lose their health coverage every day. people like a woman i met in rotund last month.

0:54:22 to 0:54:36( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Udall: she and her husband just got a renewal notice from their health insurer. their premium rose 24% this year alone. it's an increase they can't afford, and they don't know what to do. they're paying the human price