Committee member calls for hearing on health care access, cites 60,000 annual deaths

A committee member urged the panel to hold a hearing on health-care access, saying the United States remains "the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right." The speaker said, "60,000 Americans will die this year because they don't get to a doctor on time," using that figure to press for oversight.

The speaker contrasted the U.S. health outcomes with spending, stating that U.S. life expectancy is lower than other countries despite spending about twice as much per capita on health care. The remarks called for examination of why higher spending has not produced better national outcomes and asked the chair to convene a hearing to explore the causes and potential policy responses.

The transcript records the call for a hearing and the mortality figure but does not include supporting data or a committee response in the excerpt provided.