"We hope that all children receive the medical care they need, when they need it, and where they need it. All children deserve to be healthy, happy, and successful. This healthcare reform bill takes us towards that goal."
"Hi I’m Tina Hall, and I’m married and my husband has insurance through his work. To put myself and my daughter on his plan is over $700 a month and there is a $2500 out of pocket expense and deductible that we would have to meet in order to be covered at 80% 20. My daughter is 12 and she does not have insurance at this time. And this bill would be something that would benefit her and lots of other children in her position. What it’s like to go in to the hospital and not have insurance and have them limit what they’re willing to do, it’s very frustrating, because you know, she deserves the same type of care as any other child does. And I do believe, I don’t think they do it on purpose, but I do believe that if you do not have health insurance that you are looked at differently. I’m speaking from experience. I’ve got over $7000 bill for October. For my daughter needing to go in and be in the hospital for three days. It doesn’t make you very happy I mean it’s very embarrassing because my husband and I do both work and we do make a nice income, it’s just we just don’t make enough to be paying thousands of dollars worth of bills each month."
"We have an incredible opportunity this year in Iowa to move forward. Some people say we should wait for the federal government to act, I say Iowa should be the first state in the union to say that we have coverage for every kid. I remember when I was six or seven years old, learning to ride a bike, and I came down Franklin Ave and turned down Carson Ave. and I hit a parked car. O go ahead and laugh at the poor seven year old for running into the parked car. Ran into a parked car, hyper extended my knee. My dad took me to the hospital and we met our pediatrician, Dr. George Clock. I remember his words distinctly. He put me up on the table, like these kids, moved my knee one way and said did that hurt, and then he moved it the other way and said did that hurt, and it all hurt. These are the words that are like seared into my brain; he said I don’t think anything broken. That wasn’t very reassuring to a six or seven year old. I don’t think anything is broken; Do you have health insurance Paul? My father said, yeah we have got good health insurance at the bank. I remember feeling really good that I was a banker’s son on that day.
"I don’t think any kid in Iowa ought to worry about who their mother or father is to know that they are going to get decent access to healthcare. That is why this bill is so important today. And this is why Iowa ought to lead on this. We are better positioned than any other state in the union, the highest percentage of our population insured, fourth lowest cost in the country, and the sixth high quality in the country. If we can’t do this no one can."