[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 117 (Thursday, August 18, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 18, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               HAWAII WOULD LIKE TO SAY ALOHA TO MANDATES

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, last night I participated in a special 
order on employer mandates. The State of Hawaii was used to portray how 
successful this approach is in achieving universal coverage.
  Earlier this year the owner of the Paradise Flower Farms, Inc., 
employing 17 full-time people on the Island of Maui testified before 
Congress.

       In thinking they were doing employees a favor by increasing 
     State mandates, the State of Hawaii only caused worse 
     hardship for workers. Their wages rose at slower rates, and 
     they ultimately received less health care than they 
     previously had. We are at a point in our business that we 
     will do anything to avoid hiring one more person--not for 
     lack of need, but because we cannot afford them.

  An HMSA, Hawaii's Blue Cross/Blue Shield, small business premium for 
a single individual was $57.54 in 1987 and was $214.98 in 1993, which 
is an increase of nearly 375 percent in 6 years. For a family plan 
which covered the employee and dependents, the cost of the premium in 
1987 was $213.34, and in 1993 it had escalated to $597.92. That 
represents over a 300-percent increase for families wishing to purchase 
health care coverage.
  Additionally, in the August 5, 1993, edition of the New England 
Journal of Medicine it was pointed out that Hawaii currently led the 
Nation in terms of hospital expenses and throughout the 1980's it was 
fourth, behind only New York, Alaska, and Connecticut. This means that 
Hawaii's mandate has not decreased the number of people uninsured in 
the State, or has it been successful in controlling increases in health 
care expenditures relative to the rest of the Nation.
  We should remember this history of mandates in Hawaii and not make 
the same mistakes with the Gephardt-Clinton plan. No employer mandates, 
Mr. Speaker.

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