Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

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Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, I am pleased to stand with my freshman colleague this morning. We often share the back bench, but today we bring our message front and center. The time has come for action on health insurance reform. We represent the North and South. For me, everyone comes from the South. But today we see that no matter where you live in this country or what you do for a living the cost of inaction is simply unacceptable. All of us can cite alarming statistics from our States.

In my State, there are now 133,000 uninsured Alaskans. The raw numbers may not be much when compared to Virginia, Illinois, or Colorado, but in Alaska that number represents 20 percent of the population.

To me, and I hope to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, this is unacceptable. Average insurance premiums in Alaska have doubled in the past decade to more than $12,000 annually. If we do not act, they will double again about the time my 7-year-old son starts high school. Families cannot afford that.

Already, the average Alaskan family pays a hidden tax of $1,900 in premiums to cover the cost of uncompensated care provided to people without insurance, and it will only get worse as time moves forward. The problem is especially tough for small businesses in my State because Alaska has a high proportion of small business owners: fishermen, float plane operators, construction contractors, independent realtors, and the like.

Some 52 percent of all the jobs in Alaska are held by small business workers or the self-employed. They know better than anyone that a broken health care system leads to lost jobs, reduced productivity, less investment, and stalled business growth. Just this weekend I met with a small business townhall and there was one clear message from them to me, to Congress: Do something. Do it now. Each one cited their increases ranging from 14 to 41 percent in health care costs this year alone. That is why one of the best ways we in the Senate can strengthen and grow Alaska's and American business is to pass meaningful health care reform not sometime down the road but this year.

I joined the small business majority earlier this year as they released the compelling report on the need for reform. The bottom line, even with middle-of-the-road reform: American small business will spend $800 billion more than they need to over the next 10 years.

If they can save that, with just the middle-of-the-road reform, we can save them money and put it to the best use. Considering that small business is driving economic recovery in America, that is huge. Eight hundred billion dollars saved is available for infrastructure, innovation, and providing stable jobs.

It is not just small business that needs reform. The Business Roundtable, which has been spoken about already this morning, which represents much bigger companies, released a report last week that said health care costs will triple over the next decade to nearly $29,000 per employee.

There is plenty to debate about health care reform in the weeks ahead. I still have questions of my own. But there is one thing I hear from all across my State and across this country, from e-mails and messages we receive: support for health care reform is truly support for America's businesses.

I yield the floor.

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