Like the majority of Americans, I am well aware of the desperate need in our country for comprehensive health care reform. In fact, the immediate need for reform became crystal clear to me when, over the August district period, I went to a hospital in Jacksonville to visit a friend. This friend, who had worked in the Duval County school system for over 25 years, had lost his job, had no health insurance, was struggling to support himself and his family, and had no idea how he was going to be able to pay the hospital bill. For the many, many Americans who find themselves in similar situations: for the woman who cannot get insurance coverage because she is diabetic and has a pre-existing condition, to the one in nine children in America without heath care, to the millions of middle class American citizens who skip necessary treatments because they simply cannot afford it, it is for them that we need to completely reform health care in this country to make sure that all Americans are covered, and have access to affordable care.

For Floridians in particular, where more than one in five residents do not have health insurance, and for my constituents in Florida’s third congressional district and minority communities nationwide, the need for health care reform is obvious. For the African American community and Hispanics, groups who make up nearly half of the estimated 50 million Americans who lack insurance, this is imperative. For America’s middle-class families in danger of losing health coverage, and those who often forego the preventive care they need, and for the many who are denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition, again, the urgent need for comprehensive reform is obvious. Moreover, health care costs have become outright unsustainable, and experts predict that in the near future, one-fifth of our nation's GDP will go towards health care spending.

One aspect of health care reform of utmost importance to me is maintaining proper funding for Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH), like Shands Jacksonville, Miami Jackson-Memorial, Tampa General (and Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia, which was nearly forced to close recently because of a lack of funding), who provide healthcare to uninsured and/or individuals with limited incomes. Disproportionate Share Hospitals are invaluable, as they are the one true safety net for the working poor nationwide. I fought hard to keep DSH funding in the Budget Reconciliation negotiations during the Clinton years, and certainly do not intend to passively watch funding evaporate during current health care negotiations. For a state like Florida in particular, with a large elderly population, crippling DSH’s would be disastrous. I will work with the Obama administration and my colleagues on Capitol Hill to make health care reform a better, more suitable plan for everyone, especially vulnerable populations.

Although the details are still being negotiated and worked out as to which bill the House will take up, I do believe that in the end, we will have a health care reform plan on the table that will control the rising costs of health care, and ensure that ALL Americans have access to quality care. Healthcare Reform has never been more urgently needed than this moment, and if we fail to act now, we will be doing so at the peril of the American people.