[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 61 (Tuesday, May 17, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 214--RELATING TO HEALTH CARE FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

  Mr. WELLSTONE submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources:

                              S. Res. 214

       Whereas, The American people want and deserve the same high 
     quality health care as Members of Congress; and
       Whereas, The best assurance for our constituents that their 
     health care needs will be protected is to provide them with 
     the same high quality care we receive at a cost they can 
     afford; and
       Whereas, Members of Congress, like all federal employees, 
     are automatically eligible under the Federal Employee Health 
     Benefits Program (FEHBP) for health care coverage, with no 
     pre-existing condition exclusions, and employers pay a 
     significant portion of premium costs; and
       Whereas, Premiums, cost sharing requirements (such as 
     copayments and deductibles), benefits, and choice of 
     caregivers vary among the plans offered under FEHBP; and
       Whereas, The health plan that offers the greatest choice of 
     caregivers, the best schedule of co-payments and deductibles, 
     and the best package of benefits currently available through 
     FEHBP is also the most expensive plan; and
       Whereas, Members of Congress have sufficient incomes to 
     allow them to enroll in the best health plans offered under 
     FEHBP without spending more than three percent of their 
     incomes; and
       Whereas, The best health plans are not similarly affordable 
     for middle and lower income federal employees; and
       Whereas, All FEHBP plans are better than many health care 
     reform proposals now before Congress in that they offer a 
     defined package of benefits with an employer contribution; 
     and
       Whereas, Improvements are necessary even to the best plan 
     available under FEHBP, including needed services such as full 
     coverage for long term care and dental care, and improvements 
     that can only be accomplished through health care reform, 
     such as expanding public health systems and coordinating care 
     among providers; and
       Whereas, The health and well-being of our nation, and our 
     ability to control health care costs by covering everyone for 
     a broad array of accessible health services that will keep 
     people healthy, require that Congress enact the best possible 
     health care reform legislation; Therefore be it
       Resolved, That the Congress should enact health care reform 
     that guarantees everyone health care as good as the best 
     health care that will be available to Members of Congress.

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I send a resolution to the desk and ask 
that it be appropriately referred.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolution will be received and 
appropriately referred.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the President.
  Mr. President, we in the Congress are at a historic crossroads in 
public policy. We have an opportunity of a generation to take decisive 
action on health care.
  This week, one of the committees in the Senate, one of the two 
committees that will be doing markup, that is writing the bill, the 
Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, will start our markup of 
the health care bill. The Senate Finance Committee is working on this, 
as are three committees in the House of Representatives.
  At the same time we are approaching this markup, which is really 
where the rubber meets the road, where we really get to work writing 
the bill--this is the time that I think probably all of us have been 
looking forward to because you get beyond the rhetoric and the 
generalities, and you really go to work in trying to shape a piece of 
legislation that will work well for people--at the same time that we 
are getting ready to mark up these bills in committees, there is a kind 
of pressure on the part of some here in Congress and some in the 
country who are really opposed to universal health care coverage to 
begin to strip down the benefits, scale down the benefits, phase in 
universal coverage over a long period of time.
  Remember, this has been essentially a century struggle, and the 
United States will join the other advanced economies with some kind of 
universal health care coverage and a decent package of benefits. When 
all is said and done, people in the country are not policy experts but 
they understand full well what will work for themselves and their 
families. That is what they are talking about: Will we be covered? Will 
we have a decent package of benefits? Will we have choice? And will be 
able to afford it.
  Mr. President, when we go home to Minnesota, North Dakota, West 
Virginia, or any State in the country, one of the things people are 
telling us in a very, very strong way is we want you all, as our 
representatives, to make sure that whatever health care plan is passed, 
it gives us or provides us as citizens, as your constituents, with the 
same quality care that you receive.
  So this resolution that I today referred for appropriate action 
reads:
       Therefore be it Resolved, That the Congress should enact 
     health care reform that guarantees everyone health care as 
     good as the best health care that will be available to 
     Members of Congress.

  Mr. President, I think this is a really important principle. I think 
it is an important principle in representative democracy, and I think 
all of us are committed to it. We want to do well for our own families, 
and we want to make sure that the health care plan we have is the 
health care plan that the people we represent are also able to 
participate in.
  I do not mean just one plan. What I mean is the same high quality, a 
comparable level of care.
  I do not mean just one plan. What I mean is the same high quality, a 
comparable level of care.
  What our constituents may not realize, Mr. President, is that the 
health insurance program that covers Members of Congress provides many 
different levels of health care coverage to Federal employees, 
depending on what they can afford to buy.
  So when we talk about the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, 
what we want to make sure of is that that part of the program that we 
can afford as Members and Representatives and Senators, in terms of 
packaging of benefits, in terms of choice, in terms of deductibles, in 
terms of copays, in terms of the same quality of care, ought to be the 
same plan, the same package of benefits, available to our constituents.
  I did not say, Mr. President, that we are saying to people in the 
country that they can be in the Federal employees benefit package. We 
are all in it now. The problem is that people who have the highest 
income can get the best package within that overall program.
  I am saying what is the very best available to Senators and 
Representatives, based on our ability to afford the very best, ought to 
also be the same package of benefits, the same quality of care, the 
same choice, the same copays available to our constituents.
  I mean, we are all in the United States of America today in the same 
health care system. The problem is, that health care system provides 
the best care to those who can afford it and, all too often, no care to 
those who cannot afford it.
  So when we talk about the Federal benefit package, a health insurance 
program, we have to be careful to make the distinction that what we can 
afford as Representatives and Senators ought to be the same plan that 
is available to our constituents.
  Mr. President, I introduced this resolution today and referred it for 
appropriate action because as we move to mark up, I just do not want 
Representatives and Senators to be stripping away from a good package 
of benefits when we in fact can afford that package of benefits.

  I think it is extremely important that in this final health care 
plan, we make sure that what we vote on, and again I refer to the 
resolution:

       Therefore be it Resolved, That the Congress should enact 
     health care reform that guarantees everyone [in our country] 
     health care as good as the best health care that will be 
     available to Members of Congress.

  Mr. President, let me just give some examples of this health care 
plan, the best one in the Federal employees benefits package, which is 
the one I picked because it is one each Representative and Senator can 
afford. We might note that all Representatives and Senators do not 
choose to pick this plan, but it is one that all of us can afford.
  What we do not want to have in the country is a lot of stratification 
where citizens in theory are participating in the same plans, but 
actually it is sort of based upon your ability to pay how much choice 
you have, how much you are going to pay in copays and deductibles, and 
for that matter, what the package of benefits are.
  Let me kind of itemize some of what we have. By the way, I think it 
is real important for me as a Senator on the floor to make it clear, 
contrary to some of the bashing that is taking place in this country, 
that Senators and Representatives do not have free health care.
  I mean, people really believe that we do. We do not. And I think it 
is also important to make it clear to people that some of what is in 
our plan or what is not in our plan really calls for real improvement. 
It is by no means as good as some plans that people have. But, overall, 
it is a pretty solid plan and I want to talk about it.
  Annual deductible: $150 for all services. Inpatient hospital 
deductible: No deductible for inpatient. Hospital copayment: None.
  And I am just summarizing.
  Other copayments: 80 percent for all other services. Catastrophic 
stop loss: After plan participants pay $2,200 per year out of network, 
or $1,500 in network, the plan pays 100 percent of all health care 
expenses for the rest of the year. Mental health and substance abuse: 
No deductible for inpatient mental health services if network providers 
are used, and the deductible for out of network use is the same as for 
any other inpatient service. Patient copayment for outpatient mental 
health and substance abuse services are only 30 percent, and 50 visits 
a year are covered.

  Benefits. The specific list of covered services that are better than 
those in most current standard insurance plans I want to outline and 
they include:
  Certain organ/tissue transplants and donor expenses; well child care; 
allergy tests and services; delivery at birthing centers; coverage of 
care by nursing midwives; home nursing care, prescription drugs; Pap 
smears once a year for women age 18 and over; home health care, home 
hospice, and respite care; mammograms every year for women age 50 to 
64; diagnosis and treatment of infertility; 100 percent coverage for 
emergency room care and related states.
  Mr. President, some things are not covered. Institutional long-term 
care in nursing homes is not covered. And we do not provide dental 
coverage--and we could do better--and we do not provide vision care. So 
it is not a perfect plan.
  Mr. President, the reason that I introduce this resolution today is 
that I want this resolution to be the benchmark as we go to committees. 
It seems to me that it is a reasonable proposition that the best health 
care plan for Senators and Representatives in the Federal employees 
benefit package--and there are many different plans; I am not talking 
about everybody being in the overall plan, I am talking about what we 
can afford in terms of the package of benefits and reasonable copays 
and deductibles--ought to be the same plan that we vote for our 
constituents.
  I hope to receive much support. I think it is a very reasonable 
proposition. I will certainly be asking Senators to support this. This 
will be my yardstick for working in committee as we move in the markup 
on Labor and Human Resources, and I certainly hope that will be the 
case with the Senate Finance Committee, as well.
  Mr. President, let me conclude by just repeating one or two points.
  First, people in the country, do not engage in the bashing. It just 
denigrates into an across-the-board denigration of public service in 
our country and it is a huge mistake for democracy.
  Second, do not assume that people have free health care coverage in 
the U.S. Senate or in the House of Representatives. We do not, for 
ourselves or our families.
  Third, do not assume it is perfect coverage. We do not have long-term 
care, it is not good dental, it is not good vision. We can, frankly, do 
better, and I hope well we will do better, for ourselves and our 
families. But, most important of all, I hope, whatever we do for 
ourselves and our families, we do for our constituents.
  I think the benchmark should be right now in this Federal employees 
benefits package which is being discussed rather widely here in the 
Congress. There is a whole menu, a cafeteria of a plan.
  Some people can only afford this plan. We can afford the best as 
described in the package of benefits, the best as described in low 
deductibles and copays, so we can go out there and purchase that care 
when we need it for ourselves. That is the plan, the one that we can 
afford, the high-cost plan which ought to be available to our 
constituents. That is what this resolution says.
  I am going to be pushing this very hard in committee in terms of a 
package of benefits and I will also be pushing very hard as this whole 
debate goes forward.

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