[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 13 (Thursday, February 10, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Madam President, I will be very informal and just 
build on the remarks of my colleague from Pennsylvania, Senator 
Wofford, who I think has shown a tremendous commitment to health care 
reform. I will just try to build on a couple of points that the Senator 
made.
  My first point is that I do believe it is an ostrichlike approach to 
health care to argue that we really do not have the problems, or for 
any of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, to believe people in our 
country are not calling for us to pass a major health care reform that 
would really make a difference in their lives and the lives of their 
children and grandchildren.
  My second point. I would like to reference a wonderful piece that I 
think the Senator may have seen, and the Chair may have seen, by E.J. 
Dionne last week in the Washington Post in which he argued that this 
labeling and political attack on what is in the center and what is 
ahead--and these are my words--is a silly way to cover this health care 
debate. Ten years from now when people look back at what we do, they 
are not going to be thinking in terms of labels; they are going to 
thinking in terms of whether or not this reform really worked for them.
  My third point--that is why I came to the floor and I asked for time 
to respond to some of what I heard on this floor from a number of my 
Republican colleagues--I think that Dr. Reischauer did us all a real 
service. I think he opened up real space for an intellectually honest 
discussion about health care policy.
  Some people talk taxes, some people talk premiums, and some people 
talk individual mandates; but people in the country know that one way 
or another you pay for health care. The issue is, who pays? Do we 
finance it fairly? What kind of health care reform are we talking 
about, by way of delivering humane, compassionate, affordable dignified 
care to people?
  I will make three final points. First of all, I want to argue on the 
floor of the Senate, because I think this will be very much a part of 
the debate, that the interesting thing is that so far the one health 
care reform bill that was scored so highly by the Congressional Budget 
Office is the American Health Security Act, the single-payer act that 
Congressman McDermott introduced in the House and I introduced in the 
Senate. The CBO points out that we cover everyone, that it is a very 
comprehensive package of benefits geared toward family doctors and 
primary care, health care in the community, consumer choice; and 
between 1997 and 2003, the potential is to save up to $700 billion, as 
opposed to the status quo protected to 2003.
  I will talk more about single payer as we get into the heart of the 
debate at markup and on the floor. But what I want to say today is I 
want to give credit to what President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton have 
done, because they have made health care a central issue in this 
country, and therefore they have connected with the lives of people.
  When I talk to people in cafes in Minnesota--I will bet it is the 
same in California--people do not use any of this technical language. 
They want to know whether they and their loved ones are going to be 
covered; whether it is going to be a good package of benefits; whether 
they will have a choice of doctors.
  I will tell you something, Madam President; when the Congressional 
Budget Office looked at--this is my plea to the media and everyone 
involved in the debate--the Cooper plan and other plans--it is going to 
be interesting for the people in the country who are not even in the 
loop--CBO said this about the Cooper plan: In 5 years, 22 million 
people will still be without any insurance, and the Nation will be 
spending $200 billion more than the status quo projected 5 years from 
now.
  So I think we are just at the beginning of this debate. I think we 
should have, just like Earth Day, a health care day all around this 
country, and have all the delegations called back to their home States, 
each congressional district, both Senators at the same time, where 
people in our States get in the loop and come to these meetings, and we 
are all under scrutiny. It is the heart of accountability, and people 
can tell us what they want us to do, and they can hold us accountable. 
I cannot wait to where we move beyond the insurance industry, the 
pharmaceutical industry, beyond all of the big money in politics and 
get this debate out to the people we represent.
  The final deals, Madam President, will not be the deals struck here, 
but the deals each and every one of us make with our constituents. I am 
convinced that will be universal coverage, a good package of benefits, 
humane and dignified care for people, with a way we can control costs 
and do well for people in our country.
  I yield the floor.

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