[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 89 (Tuesday, July 12, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    JOB ITSELF IS THE PRIME BENEFIT

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 12, 1994

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member commends to his colleagues the 
following editorial from May 29, 1994, Omaha World-Herald, concerning 
the Clinton administration's views on health insurance and its costs to 
American businesses.
  As the World-Herald makes clear, an individual's job itself is the 
main benefit, a fact which this administration seems inclined to 
ignore. Additional burdens on businesses are likely to force many 
businesses to close, throwing people out of work. A job which does not 
provide health care is far from an ideal position, but limited health 
care without a job is an even more perilous position. That is something 
for this administration and this Congress to keep in mind as we move 
forward on health care reform.

                    Job Itself Is The Prime Benefit

       Calling Herman Cain. The Clinton administration is still 
     telling the public what a good thing it will be to increase 
     the overhead of small business in America.
       Labor Secretary Robert Reich announced the results of a 
     survey measuring the number of workers with health insurance 
     through their jobs. In 1979, he said, 66 percent of all 
     workers received such coverage. By 1993, Reich said, the 
     number had fallen to 61 percent.
       Factor in the growth of the workforce over that time, Reich 
     said, and the percentages would translate into 5.4 million 
     workers who don't have insurance who might have been insured 
     if the 1979 percentage had held constant. Reich said the 
     survey shows that it is ``time for all employers to share in 
     this burden.''
       Some businesses couldn't afford to keep up with 
     increasingly costly health programs. So they quit offering 
     health insurance coverage. In some cases, that decision may 
     well have kept them in business, saving jobs.
       Cain, the chief executive officer of Godfather's recently 
     confronted President Clinton during a televised town meeting 
     with figures showing how much the president's health care 
     proposal would cost Godfather's. The administration responded 
     with a letter accusing the restaurant industry of selfishly 
     passing off its obligations to the rest of society.
       Comments like Reich's, which tend to make an economic issue 
     look like a moral one, underemphasize the importance of 
     economic concerns. They aren't irrelevant, however. They are 
     paramount. And they must be addressed if reform in the health 
     financing system is to occur without throwing more Americans 
     out of work.

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