[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to express my deep 
disappointment that the Congress will not pass any health care reform 
legislation this year. While I have always favored legislation that 
would provide universal health coverage to Americans, I recognized that 
it would not be possible to enact this type of legislation once we 
recessed in August after passing the crime bill.
  At that time, the Republicans made it clear that they would offer 
hundreds of amendments to Senator Mitchell's compromise bill with one 
thing in mind--killing health care reform. However, they did this under 
the guise that the Mitchell bill needed improvement. They argued that 
we did not need comprehensive health care reform but rather a scaled 
back, incremental approach.
  After the Senate recessed in August, two groups of Senators went to 
work, in consultation with the majority leader, to put together just 
that--a scaled-back, incremental approach to health care reform. The 
first group, the so-called Mainstream Coalition put together a proposal 
that would basically make changes in insurance practices and provide 
subsidies to low-income people who were not eligible for Medicaid. 
Another group, led by Senator Harkin, put together a proposal that 
would cover all children and implement insurance reforms similar to 
those in the ``mainstream'' plan.
  At that time, the majority leader sought to debate one of these 
incremental bills and once again, he found himself up against a brick 
wall. A few Republicans promised to use whatever tools possible to kill 
health care reform, whether it was filibustering the bill or holding it 
hostage with an unlimited number of amendments.
  Mr. President, it is clear that many Republicans did not want health 
care reform  they wanted a political issue. Unfortunately, the losers 
were the American people. Instead of getting a health care bill that 
eliminates preexisting condition exclusions, allows people to take 
their insurance from job to job, and provides subsidies for low-income 
individuals and small businesses, they got obstructionist politics.
  The Republicans have played gridlock politics with the health care 
needs of the American people, and I think their behavior has been 
disgraceful.
  Mr. President, I will continue to push for legislation that reforms 
our health care system by moving toward universal health care coverage 
and by controlling the soaring costs of health care.
  In my State of New Jersey, there are almost 1 million persons without 
health insurance. We should not tolerate this for two reasons. First, 
health care is a basic right that every American deserves. Second, the 
people who have health insurance are currently paying for the cost of 
those without insurance because providers simply shift the costs of the 
uninsured to the insured. That means everyone comes out behind.
  At the minimum, we need to pass legislation next year that will move 
us toward universal coverage, eliminate preexisting condition 
exclusions, provide portability, create voluntary pools for small 
businesses to join together to get discounts on health insurance, and 
provide subsidies to individuals.
  I will continue to work for this type of health care reform in the 
next Congress. I hope that in 1995, the Republicans will be more 
interested in expanding health insurance to all Americans than they are 
in scoring short-term political points.

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