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STATEMENT OF HONORABLE THOMAS J. DOWNEY

MARCH 5, 1990

SELECT COMMITTEE ON AGING

"IN POOR HEALTH

THE FEDERAL COMMITMENT TO VULNERABLE AMERICANS"

I regret that I am unable to join the Chairman and other members of the Select Committee on Aging for this morning's hearing on the Federal commitment to vulnerable Americans. Unfortunately, I had previously scheduled a hearing of the Subcommittee on Human Services, "Meeting the Needs of the Frail Elderly: An Oversight Hearing", in Clearwater, Florida for this morning and was unable to reschedule the hearing at this late date. I particularly want to extend my apology to Secretary Sullivan for my absence this morning. I appreciate that he has a very full schedule and that he has always been willing to appear before Congress to explain his agenda and hear our concerns.

I also want to take this opportunity to commend Secretary Sullivan for having the temerity to take on the tobacco industry. His moral leadership and plain speaking on this important issue is an inspiration to all of us and brings to mind the efforts of one of his illustrious predecessors, Joseph Califano.

The Select Committee on Aging has long been concerned with improving access to, and the quality of, health care for all Americans, regardless of age. The Committee has also, to its credit, taken a broad view of health care. One has only to look at the work of its subcommittees to see that the Committee has always sought to include consideration of income, employment,

human services, housing and consumer issues in a holitistic approach to health care. This year, we will celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Older Americans Act, which is the cornerstone of an extensive network of programs serving millions of elderly Americans.

Throughout this year, the Subcommittee on

Human Services will hold a series of hearings on the Older Americans Act. During the course of those hearings, we will explore ways in which the network of service providers can be more effectively integrated into efforts to improve health care. In responding to the present crisis, we recognize that our patchwork approach to health care deprives millions of children of a bright and productive future and millions of elderly of a peaceful and secure retirement.

It is unfathomable that a society as rich as ours can fail to provide some form of health insurance for 37 million

Americans. We all know that it is not for lack of resources. In 1950, we spent $1 billion per month on health care. In 1988, we spent $1.5 billion per day.

What we do lack is a full scale Federal commitment to the uninsured and to the most vulnerable among us. The metaphor of the safety net has become as worn and tattered as the net itself. And for millions and millions of Americans there simply is no safety net and there never has been when it comes to health

care.

Millions of Americans who go to work every day, whose hard work contributes immeasurably to making this country the great power that it is, simply cannot afford to get sick. For them, a

child's illness becomes a major family crisis. An elderly parent's daily needs become an insurmountable barrier to

improving their family's well being.

It does not have to be this way. It ought not to be this way. The Federal government ought to be in the forefront of efforts to provide better health care to all Americans. That it has not been is one of the most inexplicable tragedies of postwar America. In his State of the Union address, President Bush announced that he asked Secretary Sullivan to undertake a study of health care policy. I am sure that Secretary Sullivan will approach this task with the diligence that he has brought to his office. I simply urge him to cast his net wide and to bring his customary honesty and openness to the study, to think no small thoughts and make no small plans. ages deserve no less.

Millions of Americans of all

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OPENING STATEMENT BY U.S. REP. JERRY COSTELLO, ILLINOIS

HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON AGING

MARCH 5, 1990

"IN POOR HEALTH

THE FEDERAL COMMITMENT TO VULNERABLE AMERICANS"

Many of my constituents in the 21st District in Illinois have contacted me to describe their dissatisfaction with the current status of our nation's heath care system. What I find equally disturbing is the fact that President Bush, in his FY 1991 budget proposed $5.5 billion cuts to the Medicare program at a time when over 31 million Americans are uninsured and 200 million Americans do not have long-term health care protection.

Today's hearing will focus on the growing number of people in our society like the frail elderly, the homeless, ethnic minorities, poor pregnant women and children, who continue to fall through the cracks of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and receive inadequate health care services.

The Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be our expert witness today. Dr. Sullivan will address the health and long-term care problem in America as it pertains to the frail elderly, and I look forward to his comments regarding the report by the "Pepper Commission" which specifically addresses this issue.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, Mr. Chairman,

for your continued leadership in health care, and for conducting

today's important and timely hearing.

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