[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 89 (Tuesday, July 12, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
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]

 
                        HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION

  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, I would like, if I might, to now make a 
few comments on the subject of health care.
  The Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Labor Committee have both 
now reported bills to the Senate.
  Over the next couple of weeks, I will be meeting personally with a 
large number of Senators, Democrats and Republicans, in an effort to 
determine the best way to proceed to put these two bills together in 
legislation which I will present to the full Senate for consideration 
later this month.
  I continue to believe that the three essential elements of meaningful 
health care reform are, first, health insurance for all Americans; 
second, effective cost control; and, third, greater emphasis in our 
society on preventive and primary care.
  I believe that the legislation that most nearly achieves these 
objectives is the legislation which the President has presented.
  It is ironic, Mr. President, and Members of the Senate, that the 
opponents of the President's plan use polling results in support of 
their position when those polling results operate in their favor and 
then seek to discount the impact of polling results when they operate 
to their disadvantage.
  This much is clear: With respect to the importance of health 
insurance for all Americans, which has now come to be known as 
universal coverage, an overwhelming majority of Americans, nearly 
three-fourths of Americans, support that principle. And that is the 
essential element in the President's bill--health insurance for every 
American.
  Every Member of Congress, the President, every member of the Federal 
Government, every Federal employee is guaranteed health insurance.
  What is good enough for the President, the Members of Congress, and 
for every Federal employee, ought to be good enough for every 
American--and that is the right to have health insurance. The right to 
have health insurance that is permanent, that cannot be taken away; 
that is the essential element.
  The second one is cost control. Some of the bills offered, in 
contrast to those presented by the President, do not provide for any 
meaningful cost control. Arguments are being made that our colleagues 
want to protect small business. Mr. President, the best thing we can do 
for small business is to enact those reforms that will make health 
insurance affordable and attainable for them. Right now, on average, 
small businessmen and women pay 35 percent more for the same coverage 
for their employees than does large business. That is because of 
discrimination in the sale of products and because of excessive costs 
within our system.
  If we adopt a system which provides for universal coverage and for 
effective cost control, costs will come down for small businessmen, 
enabling them to do what most of them already do and what the remainder 
want to do; that is, to provide health insurance for their employees. 
And 72 percent of Americans, again nearly three-fourths, favor shared 
responsibility between the employer and the employee. That is what the 
American system is built on now--shared responsibility. The employer 
pays a portion of it; the employee pays a portion of it. Right now, 
every Federal employee operates under such a system. On average, 
Federal employees pay 28 percent of the cost; the employer, the 
Government, pays 72 percent.
  We should be making certain that every American has the guarantee of 
health insurance, as do all Federal employees, in a system in which 
there is shared participation by the employer and employee. That is the 
best thing we could do for small business.
  Mr. President, I will be discussing this matter with individual 
Senators over the next few weeks, trying to figure out the best way to 
proceed, trying to put together a bill that I believe will attain these 
necessary objectives and that can pass the Senate. I look forward to 
much further and vigorous debate, to discussion with a lot of our 
colleagues. But I close with this remainder. The essential elements of 
reform are health insurance for all Americans, controlling the costs of 
health care, and placing much greater emphasis on primary and 
preventive care.
  The alternative bills which have been offered here in the Senate by 
some of our colleagues who oppose the President's plan do not achieve 
those objectives. Therefore, I do not believe they can or will be 
adopted, and I do not believe they are what the American people want.
  The American people want health insurance for all of our citizens; 78 
percent in the latest poll want that. And the American people want 
effective cost control, an even larger majority wants that. Although 
there are no recent polling results, I believe the American people also 
overwhelmingly favor much greater emphasis on preventive and primary 
care as a way of producing better health for our citizens and also of 
controlling costs.
  Mr. President, I will have much more to say on this subject in the 
next few weeks, but I wanted to make these remarks in light of some of 
the other comments made today. I look forward to further discussions 
with our colleagues. As I said literally dozens of times now since 
January, now that the two committees have reported, we are going to try 
to figure out the best way to put these bills together and bring it to 
the Senate floor this month for what I hope will be an enlightening 
debate and for what I hope ultimately will be meaningful reform 
legislation for the American people.

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