The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Medicaid Saves Lives Act (Executive Calendar)” mentioning Raphael G. Warnock was published in the Senate section on page S5039 on July 22.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Medicaid Saves Lives Act
Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, since my first day here in the Senate--
and even before that--one of the issues I have been working to address is how my own home State of Georgia, where State leaders have been digging in their heels, refusing to expand Medicaid--how it is that citizens can somehow provide affordable healthcare to their families--
nearly 500,000 Georgians who are uninsured. They are in the Medicaid gap.
That is why last week I introduced the Medicaid Saves Lives Act, legislation that would create a program almost identical to Medicaid that is administered by the Federal Government and would allow people in States like Georgia who have not expanded Medicaid, an alternative path to health coverage because we know that Medicaid literally saves lives.
I was proud to introduce this legislation with my colleagues Senators Baldwin and Ossoff and that it has the support of healthcare stakeholders in Georgia and from across the country. Entities like the Georgia Hospital Association and the Grady Health System understand how expanding Medicaid in Georgia will improve health outcomes across the State, strengthen our rural hospitals and healthcare workforce, and create good-paying jobs.
Medicaid saves lives and also saves jobs. As it turns out, the right thing to do is also the smart thing to do. And so I am glad that this plan is on its way to being included in the forthcoming economic package, and I am going to do everything I can to keep pushing to make sure that it happens.
But today, I come to the Senate floor to talk not so much about policy as much as to talk about the people behind the policy efforts that we lift up. We should always endeavor to see the human face of the public policy we put forward.
So I want to talk today about Cynthia English. She is a truckdriver in Albany, GA. It is a town in the southern rural part of our State. Cynthia turns 46 in just a few days. Her birthday, actually, is this coming Saturday.
Happy birthday, Cynthia.
Cynthia, a hard-working woman, suffers from diabetes and hypertension. She says that she has previously applied for Medicaid and other healthcare programs but has been repeatedly denied because she does not have any children. She does not have any dependents. So she has been denied, in spite of her relatively low income. She is in the coverage gap.
She says that those denials made her feel like she couldn't get any type of help. In fact, Cynthia says that in the past, her diabetes and her blood pressure have had her in ``real bad shape,'' so much so that complications with her diabetes once sent her to the emergency room.
Think about the cost of that for her and for all of us, unable to get the kind of routine care that all of us need but especially if you have a chronic illness like hypertension or diabetes. It doesn't make sense for her or for us that she is in this situation. Without health insurance, Cynthia says she couldn't go to the doctor and that, due to the cost, it was hard to pay for medication. To put it bluntly, as Cynthia said, when you are sick in Georgia, ``they still really don't help you if you don't have any health insurance or Medicaid.''
Thankfully, Cynthia was able to find the Good Samaritan Clinic in Albany. As a pastor, I have to say that is a good name for a clinic, the Good Samaritan Clinic, in Albany. It offers healthcare to people like her in the coverage gap. She has been able to receive care for her conditions, including a pinched nerve in her neck and back caused by sciatica, another condition that went undiagnosed for far too long because of her lack of health insurance.
If it wasn't for the Good Samaritan Clinic, Cynthia says she wouldn't be here. But it is still not enough--grateful for them, but that is not enough. That clinic does amazing work, but that is not enough.
In other States, Cynthia would be eligible for Medicaid. According to Cynthia, having additional support provided by Medicaid would help her pay for her medications and get all the care that she needs. A hard-
working woman, doing all the right things, cannot get the coverage that she needs.
So behind the public policy, we have to remember the stories of real people, people like Cynthia, because there are millions of Cynthias in Georgia and across our Nation who need the Medicaid Saves Lives Act. Until we get this done, I am going to keep lifting up Cynthia's story and the stories of other Georgians who would benefit from this critical lifesaving legislation
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). The Senator from Alaska.
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