[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 124 (Thursday, August 25, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 ``SENATE'S `MAINSTREAM' OUT OF TOUCH''

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an 
editorial titled ``Senate's `Mainstream' Out Of Touch.''
  I think it might be of interest to my colleagues in the Senate and to 
those who read the Congressional Record.
  I ask to insert it into the Record at this point.
  The editorial follows:

                  Senate's ``Mainstream'' Out of Touch

       The so-called mainstream coalition of Senate moderates 
     takes pride in the supposedly middle-of-the-road positions it 
     has staked out in the health-reform debate. But its 
     membership, which includes Sen. John C. Danforth, essentially 
     seeks to protect the status quo at the expense of the 
     uninsured.
       Fortunately, the group's health-care plan does not mirror 
     the nation's political center. A majority of voters, polls 
     show, think every American deserves a basic package of 
     health-insurance benefits.
       Worst of all, this Senate plan falls short of even Majority 
     Leader George Mitchell's bill to cover 95 percent of 
     Americans by the turn of the century. Under the Mitchell 
     bill, at least 14 million Americans still would have no 
     health insurance. Incredibly, the Senate coalition claims the 
     Mitchell bill goes too far. It's safe to say health benefits 
     might be denied to millions more if the mainstreamers get 
     their way.
       Yet the compromise proposals of this 15-member Senate group 
     are being embraced as the best way to make some conservatives 
     comfortable with voting for a weakened Mitchell bill. Some 
     liberals, meanwhile, feel compelled to back the compromise 
     for the political sake of President Bill Clinton.
       These developments show how Washington has lost its way on 
     the health-care issue. Both parties have forgotten the well-
     defined premises that initially shaped the debate. One was 
     the health insurance should be portable, in that workers 
     could take it from one job to the next; moreover, they 
     wouldn't be denied coverage if they became unemployed or 
     seriously ill. Senators are only giving up lip service to 
     these principles.
       Another premise was cost containment. To the mainstreamers, 
     that means attacking fraud, malpractice awards and so-called 
     gold-plated health plans. Yet these senators object to 
     standby government authority to restrain the genuine sources 
     of medical inflation. These include the oversupply of 
     hospital facilities, beds and high-tech equipment. Rising 
     medical expenses are in part a reflection of these costs. 
     Rather than lauding the health-care industry's 14 percent 
     share of the economy, Mr. Danforth and others should ask hard 
     questions about what Americans are getting--besides out-of-
     pocket medical bills and shrinking care for the uninsured--
     for the billions of dollars they're feeding this profit-
     hungry industry.
       Just 14 years ago, the average U.S. family spend $1 for 
     health care for every $11 of pre-tax income, says a study by 
     Families USA. It says that under current trends, those same 
     families can expect to spend $1 out of every $5 of income for 
     health by the end of the decade in the absence of reforms.
       The mainstreamers assail what they see as hidden taxes and 
     big government in the Democrats' bills. Yet they say nothing 
     about unchecked indirect taxes, the financial drain and human 
     pain the current profit-oriented system imposes on everyone.
       The Mitchell bill was in bad shape from the start. It 
     imposes no employer mandate; it seeks no serious source of 
     tax revenue to pay for care, and it leaves millions of 
     Americans with no health insurance. That mainstreamers want 
     to weaken even this anemic bill augurs poorly for genuine 
     health reform this year.

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