[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 15 (Tuesday, February 22, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a little bit about 
health care. I have just spent a week in Wyoming and we talked a lot 
about health care.
  One of the conclusions one cannot help but make is that the one fits 
all kind of health care program will not fit in Wyoming. What fits in 
Baltimore does not fit in Basin, WY. The Clinton plan is based on 
numbers. The Clinton plan is based on HMO's, dealing with a great many 
people, as is the Cooper plan.
  It takes, according to the medical journal, 10,000 people to make the 
Cooper plan work to have the leverage and access. In Wyoming, it is not 
just having insurance that gives one access, it is the idea that there 
is somebody there to take care of you.
  We also are a State of small business. And mandated health insurance 
premiums will trade health care for jobs and they will both fail.
  What we need is a program that makes fundamental changes in the 
program that we have. We need fundamental changes in insurance. We need 
fundamental changes in the characteristics of hospitals so that they 
can be reimbursed. We need a flexible program, Mr. Speaker. We need a 
health program but not a one fits all Government-run nationalized 
health program.

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