[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 70 (Wednesday, June 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                             SOME QUESTIONS

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 8, 1994

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member commends to his colleagues an 
editorial regarding health care reform which appeared in the Norfolk 
Daily News on May 25, 1994. This is a thoughtful commentary as Congress 
continues to consider health care reform legislation.

              [From the Norfolk Daily News, May 25, 1994]

                        Opinion--Some Questions

       As debate continues in Congress over health care reform, 
     there remain ardent supporters of Hillary Clinton's ideas for 
     health care in the United States--a system of government 
     control over price and access.
       Although such reform in the United States wouldn't be 
     identical to government-controlled systems in Canada, Germany 
     or Japan, there would be many similarities. That being the 
     case, it would seem appropriate to ask ourselves--and members 
     of Congress--a few questions, such as:
        Why do 60 percent of the Canadian people 
     supplement public health care coverage with private health 
     insurance, despite paying almost twice what United States 
     citizens pay in taxes for public health care?
        Why are Canadian health care costs rising faster 
     than those in the United States?
        Why are more than 8,000 of Canada's doctors now 
     practicing in the United States?
        Why does Japanese health care match that of the 
     United States of the 1950s, according to Dr. Louis Sullivan, 
     former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services?
        Why do patients in Japan pay bribes to be admitted 
     to private hospital rooms and rapid medical treatment?
        Why are the majority of prescription drugs sold in 
     Japan sold by their doctors?
        Why do German doctors have to see twice as many 
     patients as U.S. doctors in an assembly-line fashion?
        And why do German hospitals pad their bills by 
     keeping patients for unnecessarily long periods of time?
       The answer to all those questions is government control of 
     health care and the ramifications of that.
       We're pleased that there appears to be less and less 
     support for the Clinton health care reform plan in Congress, 
     but until the thing is dead and buried we won't rest easy. 
     Yes, there are things about the U.S. health care system that 
     could be improved and reformed. That work should continue. 
     But let's now overhaul a health care system that doesn't need 
     such drastic measures.

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