[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 44 (Thursday, March 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3694-S3695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as most know, I offered an amendment on 
Social Security that led ultimately to the defeat of the balanced 
budget amendment. I am glad that we had the debate on the balanced 
budget amendment. I think, No. 1, it indicated that we have a problem 
with the deficit. No. 2, we need to do something about the deficit and 
No. 3, we should not use Social Security as a method of trying to mask 
the deficit.
  Mr. President, while we are having all this talk about a balanced 
budget, one of the areas we have not talked about and that we should 
talk about is health care. Why should we talk about health care?
  Mr. President, one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
was quoted in the Washington Post on February 15 saying, ``Health care 
is not very bright on anybody's radar screen, if it shows up at all.''
  Mr. President, it may not show up on the radar screen of some 
Senators in this body, but it shows up on the radar screen of the 
people of America. Health care is still brightly flashing in the minds 
of the American public.
  The Gallup Poll taken before the end of this year, completed December 
30, showed that almost 75 percent of the American people felt that 
reform of the country's health care system should be a top or a high 
priority for Congress within the first 100 days.
  Mr. President, nobody is talking about health care. We should talk 
about health care. A CNN poll showed that approximately 60 percent of 
those surveyed say that if a major illness were to occur in their 
family, they could not handle the costs of that major illness at all. 
There is a problem with health care. If we are wondering why the 
deficit is being driven up, we need look no place else other than the 
high cost of health care. There are interesting phenomenons occurring 
in the country. We have some managed care operations that are ongoing.
  We find that doctors are not being paid as much, hospitals are not 
being paid as much, but the consumer, the patient, is being charged 
more. Where is that money going? Who is the great middleman that is 
making all this money? Who is that? And should we identify him? Health 
care costs are increasing and we should do something about it.
  Mr. President, I received a letter from a friend of mine in Las Vegas 
who is a physician. He was complaining about a patient who was injured 
in a car accident in California, a Nevada resident. This patient was 
injured and spent 31 days in the hospital.
  Now, how much would a hospital bill be for a day? Would it be $1,000 
a day, $2,000 a day, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, $6,000, $7,000, $8,000, 
$9,000? Ten-thousand dollars a day is what it cost the patient before 
he was allowed to come back to Nevada; $10,000 a day is what it cost 
that patient in the hospital.
  I think, by any standards, that is steep, and I think certainly, Mr. 
President, we should be concerned about that.
  If we are wondering why we are having trouble balancing the budget, 
let us look at health care. A man spends 31 days in the hospital and 
his bill is $278,000 for the hospital and $33,000 for the physician.
  Well, health care may not be on the screen of some Members of this 
body, but health care costs should be on the screen of every one of us. 
Health care costs are insurmountable for State and local governments 
and the Federal Government, even though we do not talk about it any 
more.
  We brought a health care reform bill on the floor last year. We 
debated it at length. We lost the issue. Now I guess we are just not 
going to talk about it any more, even though health care cost is the 
No. 1 cost driving up deficits all over this country.
  Uninsureds--I am only talking about uninsureds, I am not talking 
about underinsureds--uninsureds, Mr. President, have increased in the 
last 2 years by 2 million people. Now it is up to 41 million Americans. 
Eighteen percent of the people in the State of Nevada have no health 
insurance.
  We have introduced legislation through the minority leader, certainly 
not nearly as comprehensive as last year--and that is an 
understatement--but we have introduced legislation to address these 
problems. I direct this body's attention to S. 7, which deals with some 
of the big problems facing health care, including paperwork reduction, 
administrative simplification, to help in rural areas. I see my friend 
from Illinois on the floor. He has been a leader in trying to provide 
health care for rural Americans.
  Specifically, S. 7 will provide portability, limit preexisting 
condition exclusions, prohibit companies from raising rates when 
consumers get sick, and require that all insurers offer at least one 
plan with the same benefits available to Members of Congress.
  The bill will also provide assistance for families and small 
businesses through tax incentives and modest subsidy programs. 
Specifically, this bill will reinstate the self-employed tax deduction, 
a proposal supported by 50 Members of this body in a letter to the 
majority and minority leaders.
  S. 7 will reduce paperwork and provide administrative simplification 
by implementing standard billing and claims forms. This legislation 
also provides privacy protection for an individual's health records, 
strengthens fraud and abuse efforts, and reforms our medical 
malpractice system.
  Two other elements in the bill which I particularly support are 
measures to provide cost and quality information to consumers and the 
provisions to enhance rural health care delivery. By providing 
consumers with accurate cost and quality information on health plans we 
can put the buying power in the hands of the consumer.
  S. 7 will help rural areas establish telemedicine networks and 
financially viable rural health plans. The Washington Post in its 
health section recently cited a University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill study which found that of the 50 million Americans living in 
[[Page S3695]] rural areas, more than 21 million are in locations that 
don't have enough health care professionals to meet their needs. 
Moreover, the study found that 2,000 primary care doctors are needed in 
rural areas.
  The elements of this bill were supported by both sides of the aisle 
in last year's debate and were contained in several health care 
proposals put forth by both Republicans and Democrats. Thirty-three 
Democratic Senators have rallied around a sound set of principles for 
health care reform and invited our Republican colleagues to join us in 
addressing this important issue. These principles includes: Insurance 
market reform, 100 percent health insurance tax deductibility for the 
self-employed, affordable coverage for children, assistance for workers 
who lose their jobs to keep their health coverage, and a wide range of 
accessible and affordable home, and community-based options for 
families caring for a sick parent or a disabled child.
  I believe these principles are ones we, as Members of the Senate, and 
representative of our constituents, can support. S. 7 and the 
Democratic principles for reform are a sound starting point. I remain 
committed to working for reform of our health care system, and I hope 
we can work together to provide working American families with the 
quality health care they deserve, at a price they can afford.
  I would only say, Mr. President, that if we ignore health care in 
this body, we are ignoring the No. 1 cost issue facing people all 
across America. And before we stop hearing the words ``balanced 
budget'' and all the debates that took place in that regard, let us not 
forget about health care. If we are ever going to address the deficit 
that accumulates yearly in this country, we must be concerned with 
health care or we will never handle the problem.
  Mr. EXON addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kyl). The Senator from Nebraska.
  If I may interrupt the Senator from Nebraska, under the previous 
order, morning business was to expire at 11:05.
  Mr. EXON. I ask unanimous consent that morning business be extended 
for at least 5 minutes, for the purpose of brief remarks by the Senator 
from Nebraska.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to extending morning 
business by 5 minutes?
  Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I would just like to say a few words with 
regard to the bill that was introduced today.
  As the body well knows,
   I favored the constitutional amendment to balance the Federal 
budget. I am sorry that it did not pass. But now that it has failed, we 
need to press ahead to build what discipline we can into the budget 
process.

  We are introducing today a statutory requirement that would have 
most, if not all, of the teeth that the constitutional amendment to 
balance the budget would have instituted.
  The bill requires the Budget Committee to report out a resolution 
that shows us when we will get to a balanced budget without using the 
Social Security trust funds.
  The practical effect of this requirement would be to require the 
Government to run surpluses in the unified budget, surpluses that would 
start to reduce--and I emphasize, reduce--the debt held by the public 
and prepare us for the financial needs of the next century.
  Our bill enforces this requirement with a 60-vote point of order 
against budget resolutions that do not show how we get to balance.
  The bill allows for waiver in wartime and in recessions, using the 
same mechanisms that Congress put in the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law.
  As for the schedule, the Budget Act requires the Senate Budget 
Committee to report a budget resolution by April 1.
  The Budget Act requires the Congress to complete action on the budget 
resolution conference report by April 15. I hope we can meet that 
deadline.
  Last year, the Senate Budget Committee reported the budget resolution 
on March 18.
  The year before last, when Congress enacted the deficit reduction 
bill that has reduced the deficit by over $600 billion, the Senate 
Budget Committee reported the budget resolution on March 12, and 
Congress completed action on the conference report on April 1.
  We look forward to working with the Republican majority to 
expeditiously fashion a budget resolution that shows us how we will get 
to a balanced budget and get on with the obvious work in this area that 
we must do.
  I reserve the remainder of my time and I yield the floor.
  

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