[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 109 (Tuesday, August 9, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  WASHINGTON STATE'S HEALTH CARE PLAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington [Mr. Kreidler] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KREIDLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk a little bit this evening 
about the bill that passed in Washington State. It is a bill that deals 
with health care reform. It is health care reform, and it is a bill 
that will lead to universal coverage of the population in the State of 
Washington.
  I do not come lightly to this issue. This is an issue that I have 
some familiarity with. For 2 years I was on the commission that studied 
the issue of health care reform in the State of Washington. As a 
product of that, we produced a report, and that report then became the 
basis of the bill that was passed by the Washington State Legislature 
in 1993, last year.
  That legislation is comprehensive legislation. It is legislation that 
is going to guarantee to every person in the State of Washington that 
they cannot be denied health care, it cannot be taken away from them, 
that if things go poorly for them, they are going to be able to rely on 
their health insurance being there for them tomorrow.

  This is not a complex issue. This is an issue that has been debated 
before this Congress. It was introduced by President Truman many years 
ago. This is an issue that back about 1970 and the early seventies was 
before this Congress by virtue of a bill that was submitted to the 
Congress by then President Richard Nixon.
  In fact, in 1972, I earned a Master's in Public Health at UCLA in 
health administration, specifically with the idea that we were looking 
at a reformed health care system based on President Nixon's proposal 
before the Congress.
  That, interestingly enough, employed an employer mandate in order to 
have employers have a shared responsibility with workers.
  The legislation that passed in the State of Washington actually 
follows some of the same concepts that were employed or proposed at the 
time by then President Nixon. It guarantees universal coverage by 1999, 
and it starts out and has a requirement that as a minimum employers 
have a responsibility for shared responsibility with the employee of 
50-50, at a minimum.
  It also starts out by taking the largest employers first and having 
them come into the health care system and provide health care for their 
employees as a mandate, initially, being the first ones, starting with 
500 employees or more. The others are phased in by the year 1999.
  It guarantees that there be at least three choices of health care 
plans. Now, I worked as a clinical optometrist with Group Health 
Cooperative of Puget Sound, an HMO, for 20 years. Some plan that would 
be comparable to that would be one of the options.

                              {time}  2030

  I think it is a pretty good one, because I happened to work in it. 
But there would also be fee for service. There would be other types of 
nontraditional types of HMOs without walls and so forth, which would 
give individuals the chance to kind of pick their doctors from a whole 
panel, a minimum of three choices.
  It also sets up what are called purchasing cooperatives on a 
voluntary basis so if you want to purchase health care and you have got 
money and you want to buy your health care, you could go to one of 
these and have the purchasing power that large corporations or a 
government would have, thereby giving you a much better rate on what it 
is going to cost you for health care.
  It also expands a program that we had in the State of Washington 
called the Basic Health Care Plan. That is kind of a catchall for 
anybody who does not have access to another plan. This is a guaranteed 
plan that you would be able to purchase, that will guarantee you 
certain benefits. Most people probably wouldn't choose it as their 
first choice, but if they have another plan available to them or 
another choice, and particularly in the early stages, as we approach 
1999 and universal coverage, would you have a chance then to actually 
get your health care through the Washington Basic Health Care Plan, not 
that dissimilar from the majority party's proposal here with the 
expansion of Medicare Plan C.
  It also brings about the kinds of market reforms that are necessary 
for insurance that deal with issues like preexisting conditions. If you 
have a preexisting condition, you will still be able to get health 
insurance. It deals with portability, meaning if you leave one job or 
you are laid off or fired, you are going to have the chance then to 
keep your health insurance as you move on, either purchasing it 
yourself or carrying it to next employment situation.
  You are also going to have community rating. That means that you as 
an individual are going to be able to see your rates are essentially 
averaged with all of the other people in your particular community. So 
that you do not see people coming in there, large employers or 
government, and being able to come in and essentially get preferential 
rates that you are not able to enjoy. Everybody has to pay the same 
rate in that particular community.
  We are also going to reform Medicaid. I would just tell you that this 
is legislation that can be passed here in Congress. We have done it in 
the State of Washington, and I urge the Congress to step up and do what 
the States are already doing.

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