[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 35 (Friday, February 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3075-S3076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, my comments on health care begin with a 
thank you to the Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, for insisting that 
health care reform top our legislative agenda in 1995. It would have 
been easy for Senator Daschle to ignore an issue that has obviously 
gone from very hot to very cold in the wink of a political eye.
  In fact, Mr. President, as I was thinking about what it was I was 
going to say in response to Senator Daschle's invitation to come here 
this morning, I thought of a tune that I learned in my childhood. I 
was, unfortunately, unable to locate the junior Senator from New York, 
who I am sure would have come here and sung it for me here on the 
floor, so I will have to resort to reading it instead of singing it. 
But the song goes:

     Where or where has my little dog gone
     Oh where oh where can he be
     With his tail cut short and his ears down long
     Oh where oh where can he be?

  Where has the health care issue gone? Did all those uninsured 
Americans get coverage while I was out campaigning for reelection? Did 
the horror stories cure themselves? Did the market fix the whole darn 
thing? Or did we just grow weary of having to educate the American 
people on a subject too attractive for even the amateur demagogue to 
resist?
  Last year, as we struggled against the odds, to hold together a group 
of Republican and Democratic Senators who saw health care reform as 
moral and economic imperative I said:

       In our hearts, where we are able to understand the need for 
     health care security, and in our heads, where the numbers are 
     calculated, we know the status quo is not acceptable.

  What was true last year is even more true this year. There are still 
tens of millions of Americans who work but who cannot afford to bury 
health insurance. There is still forecast a staggering and unaffordable 
increase in Federal health care spending over the next 10 years. The 
impressive and unprecedented change in the marketplace while giving us 
hope that costs can be controlled has not altered the need for reform. 
And, the horror of job lock, lack of portability, and fear of 
uninsurability are still tormenting millions of our citizens.
  Unfortunately for these Americans they do not represent a majority, 
or even a powerful enough minority. The majority are comfortably and 
temporarily able bodied, fully insured, and employed. And, the majority 
has been led incorrectly to believe that the status quo is just fine.
  [[Page S3076]] However, the status quo is, in fact, unacceptable, and 
I am encouraged that Senator Daschle, Senator Dole, and other 
Republican and Democratic Senators continue to work for change. We must 
not give up this fight.
  I hope we will have the courage this year to consider more than just 
a little change. I am encouraged by many of the things that I have 
heard, again from both Republicans and Democrats, about how we can 
alter our current Federal and our private sector programs. I hope, for 
example, we will consider changing the way eligibility occurs. Rather 
than proving that you are poor enough or proving that you are old 
enough or disabled enough or that you work for just the right boss, it 
would be better in my judgment, more efficient and simpler and fairer 
to simply say that if you can prove that you are an American or a legal 
resident, that is how you become eligible for our system.
  Once eligibility occurs, however, we must make it clear that all 
Americans have to contribute, both financially and in a personal way to 
cost controls. Otherwise the system will not work.
  I hope we will consider changing the rules so that health rather than 
health care is the goal of our system. Incentives should be present to 
providers and patients to become healthier and not sicker. This is 
particularly true for families with babies. The responsibility for care 
should not end after 1 day normal delivery.
  I hope we reform insurance practices so that everyone can purchase 
health insurance regardless of health or job status, so that we make it 
more likely that in the long run we can achieve a system where all 
Americans are eligible for coverage.
  I hope we reform the Government health programs, not simply by 
cutting payments to providers but by studying ways to provide more 
options to beneficiaries and allowing market forces to reduce costs, so 
that we make it more likely that we can achieve a system where all 
Americans are eligible for health coverage.
  I hope we reform the Tax Code so that the self-employed have the same 
incentives as larger companies to purchase health insurance, so that we 
make it more likely that we can achieve a system where all Americans 
are eligible for health care.
  I do hope we reform our tort system as well, so the fear of being 
sued does not dominate the relationship between the provider and the 
patient. But above all, I hope we do not forget the stories we all told 
last year about Americans and businesses who needed a changed system in 
order to have the freedom to pursue their dream without the fear of 
financial ruin. I intend to work and support reform that improves the 
current health care situation and makes it more likely that we can 
achieve a system where all Americans are eligible for health care. I am 
confident that if we continue working on this issue as a priority issue 
we can pass reform legislation this year that improves the short term 
situation and that makes it more likely that we can achieve, in the 
long term, a solution to the problem of access to and the high cost of 
health care for all Americans.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kempthorne). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business for not to exceed 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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