Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge “Cover the Uninsured Week.” Many of us have heard from our constituents this week, asking that we make health insurance coverage a top priority in the 109th Congress. America’s families are living in fear that someone they love might develop a health problem they can’t afford. We must begin a meaningful dialogue about this problem that will continue until every American has access to quality, affordable health insurance. This national disgrace has reached crisis proportions. Forty-five million Americans – more than 8 million of whom are children, and more than 80% of whom live in working families - are one ambulance trip away from financial devastation.

I was pleased to join Leader Pelosi and other Democrats in cosponsoring three bills introduced this week as part of the Democrats’ plan to build on programs that already work. Together, the Family Care Act, the Medicare Early Access Act and the Small Business Health Insurance Promotion Act would cover over half of all uninsured Americans. I have also been proud to be a part of other initiatives, both nationally and in my home state of Rhode Island to preserve and expand existing health insurance programs for retirees, children with disabilities, and adults attempting to return to the workforce. These are all important aspects to addressing the health care crisis, and I am honored to be part of building momentum around a solution.

Our small business owners know we are in a crisis. Rising health care costs are undermining their ability to purchase coverage for their employees. They are frustrated with the increasing burden of negotiating and administering health care plans, and they are taking on extra costs or passing them on to employees just to maintain level coverage. Without systemic change, these problems will continue to threaten the health security of all Americans.

What frustrates me most about the health insurance crisis is what little attention it receives. But I believe that with the proper amount of consideration and planning, the health care system in America can be saved. An enormous amount of money circulates through our health care system -- we spend $35 billion on uncompensated care for individuals who don’t have health insurance, with federal, state and local governments covering as much as 85 percent. Wouldn’t it be better for American families, and also more cost effective, to transfer a large share of these funds to a new program to subsidize the cost of covering the uninsured? We spend millions treating illnesses diagnosed at later stages, thus requiring more costly treatments, because we didn’t offer people the screenings to catch these problems earlier. This is the least efficient way possible to treat people. While we may not be in the best of economic times, if we made this issue a priority and committed ourselves to spending our health care dollars more wisely, we could offer all Americans access to quality, affordable care.

With these principles of efficiency and inclusion in mind, I have developed a model for universal health insurance. Introduced last year as the American Health Benefits Plan. This bill is modeled after the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program – which everyone in this chamber is familiar with, as it offers coverage to Members of Congress, their families and staffs.

Under my proposal, private companies will compete to offer health insurance, attracting enrollees on the basis of benefits as well as efficiency, service, and lower premiums. The government should make a substantial contribution to every American’s premium, and for those for whom paying a portion of the premium would be a hardship, the government should offer subsidies – as we currently do under Medicaid. Employers should continue to contribute to the health care system, and they can do so through a payroll tax, which would fund the government contribution - but the burden of negotiating and administering health care plans should be taken on by the government.

A national template for this model already exists. FEHBP manages health insurance for more than 8 million federal employees, annuitants and dependents. This program is administered by the Office of Personnel Management, which assumes responsibility for approving or disapproving carriers, negotiating benefit and rate changes, and auditing carriers' operations under the law. With administrative costs of less than 1 percent, OPM has managed to offer a wide variety of health care choices and protections to federal employees.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the federal government should offer this kind of coverage and oversight to all Americans. I sincerely hope to continue this dialogue with my colleagues, beyond “Cover the Uninsured Week,” but this is an important place to start.