[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 15, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 15, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  2320
 
     WHY DOESN'T HAWAII HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN HEALTH CARE REFORM?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Roemer). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Hoekstra] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. HOEKSTRA. Mr. Speaker, tonight I rise to ask a very simple 
question: Why does not Hawaii have to participate in health care 
reform? It has been an ongoing debate in our committee, the Committee 
on Education and Labor, for the last number of months. Today we decided 
that Hawaii would not have to participate in health care reform. Today 
in the Committee on Education and Labor markup of H.R. 3600, the health 
care reform bill, members voted to allow the State of Hawaii to be 
exempted from having to participate in the plan. I find this an 
intriguing idea, but I cannot understand why the committee stopped at 
just exempting Hawaii.
  I know that people in my district believe that they receive superior 
health care for a reasonable cost in western Michigan. Studies have 
shown that the average cost per hospital stay in western Michigan is 
much lower than many of the models used by the administration to 
develop its plan as outlined in H.R. 3600. In essence, I agree that 
different areas of the country should be allowed to be exempted from 
this health care reform if those areas do not believe it will be 
beneficial to them. In fact, I believe that each State should be given 
the opportunity to opt into the plan but should not be required to do 
so. If it is good enough to let Hawaii opt out, why cannot other States 
and other Americans have the same option?

  It is for this reason that tomorrow I will propose an amendment to 
H.R. 3600 in the Committee on Education and Labor to allow States to 
hold a referendum vote if they want to participate in the plan. If the 
voters in that State cast a majority of ballots in favor of joining in 
the plan, then they are in. If less than a majority of the voters 
choose to belong, then the State would not be in the plan and they 
could continue the health care system that they currently have in 
place, and which obviously their voters believe is better than the 
proposal that is being developed here in Washington.
  No State would be required to hold such a referendum; only those 
States that believe joining the plan is in their best interests would 
have to go to the voters to ask them if they can join.
  Over the past 2 years or so we have heard a lot of discussion over 
whether health care reform is a need and what form it should take. Soon 
we will have a plan that everyone can look at. But before we impose 
that plan on all of the American people except those that live in 
Hawaii, I think we should ask, ``Is this the plan you are looking for? 
Will this plan fix the problems that you see in your health care system 
in your State, or would we be better off leaving the system in your 
State as it is?''
  Mr. Speaker, poll after poll tells us the American public does not 
trust Congress. They do not trust Congress to make good decisions, and 
they certainly do not think Congress is going to produce a good health 
care reform bill. Well, I say let us let the American people tell us 
what they think of the work we are doing. We should not be afraid to 
put our product on the shelf to see if anybody will buy it. At least we 
should not be afraid if we are so proud of the product that we believe 
that we are going to produce, or are we afraid that more people from 
other States besides Hawaii are going to tell us that, ``But no thanks, 
we will stick with what we have. We like the system. We would like to 
just keep what we have. It is working fine. We recognize there may be 
flaws in our system, but at least it is a better alternative than the 
proposal that is being cooked up in Washington.''

  If we are going to allow one State to opt out of the plan, then every 
State should have that same opportunity. Actually, not every State, but 
every State's voters should have the opportunity to decide whether they 
want to continue the plan that they have in place or whether they want 
to select the plan that we are developing here in Washington.
  So, tomorrow we will offer a very simple amendment to H.R. 3600. The 
amendment will simply state, ``No State shall be considered to be a 
participating State for purposes of this act unless a majority of 
voters in the State by State referendum approve the State becoming a 
participating State.''
  What a novel approach. This is not a mandate. As a matter of fact, we 
are going to give voters in 49 other States the opportunity to make a 
decision that has already been made for them in Hawaii about whether 
they want to participate in this plan or not.

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