[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 137 (Wednesday, September 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8583]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1845
                  FOUR SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN MEDICINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chambliss). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, there are four significant changes that 
are happening in our society that have to do with the field of medicine 
and the reason that medicine right now is going to be a hotly debated 
subject in the coming months, in the coming years, in our society.
  I would say that those changes are philosophical changes, No. 1, in 
Washington, which I hate to use it but will, is a new paradigm, a new 
way of looking at things; No. 2, technological changes; No. 3, the 
possible bankruptcy of Medicare; No. 4, changes in the Medicaid 
delivery system.
  Let me start with No. 1, though, philosophical changes in Washington. 
We have some 80 new freshmen this year, all of whom I would describe as 
very regular folks who want to cut the budget and go home. They are not 
trying to be the next President. They are not trying to run for other 
offices. They just want to do the right thing. They are very attuned to 
the problems of middle-class America and businesses and employers, and 
they are just not as political as I would say classes have been in the 
past.
  I would say also that the reforms, the changes, are not attributable 
to the Republican Party alone. President Clinton, his election in 1992 
did a lot to trigger the moves of reform and the debate for change in 
health care.
  A couple of things that we have seen as evidence of a new philosophy 
in this House, tangible evidence, the tort reform bill that we for many 
years debated that never got out of committee, it actually passed the 
House this year; OSHA reforms, where we are trying to get OSHA to be 
more technological and employer-friendly and more concentrated on 
safety rather than concentrating strictly on fines. We are trying to 
get the FDA to put more money and manpower in faster approval of pills, 
of medical devices, rather than also being punitive and restrictive in 
their ways of doing business.
  Then of course the biggest thing is, we are taking a serious stab at 
budget reduction. Interest is the third largest expenditure on our 
national budget right
 now. In 2 years it is projected to exceed the defense budget, so we 
have got to do things about it.

  I would say, No. 1, that philosophical changes, we are looking at 
doing things differently; No. 2, technological changes. We passed this 
huge telecommunications bill recently. In that will be new avenues for 
such things as telemedicine. There is going to be the Internet. I 
believe the Internet will make medicine a lot more consumer-friendly, 
because a person back home right now does not know how much a broken 
arm or broken leg is going to cost.
  On an Internet system, they can figure it out, figure out what 
orthopedists are charging, which ones are the best at this, which 
hospitals will get them in and out the fastest, and so forth. That 
would be the case with every operation. You could go in there, plug in 
whatever your ailment is, and see how much it costs for certain 
treatments, and so forth, and see who is best at it. I think that is 
going to make medicine a lot more competitive.
  Those are some of the technological things, but I would say that the 
Federal Government's way of looking at medicine is with a slide rule, 
but we are in the world of pocket calculators now and we have to move. 
We have to make that change.
  Then, No. 3, Medicare. The April trustees' report said clearly that 
Medicare will go bankrupt in 6 years if we do not do anything about it. 
We have to fix it. We have to do it in a nonpartisan way. We need to 
simplify it, to protect and preserve it. We need to slow down the rate 
of growth.
  There are all kinds of options out there that people are looking at 
and this Congress is going to be addressing, things that will make 
Medicare more consumer-friendly and again, above all, simplify and 
protect it.
  Then, finally, changes in the Medicaid system, most significantly, 
welfare reform and block granting this authority back to States so that 
States have the flexibility. For example, I represent Georgia. Our 
Medicaid problems, our welfare delivery problems may be different than 
those in New York City or San Francisco, downtown Cincinnati, and we 
are going to make those changes but it is going to give the States the 
flexibility that they need.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a lengthy subject. I look forward to the months 
of debate ahead, but I would say that the four significant changes 
again in medicine are philosophical changes, new ways of looking at 
things; changes in Medicare; changes in Medicaid; and, above all, the 
new technologies.
  I thank the Speaker for this time. I will not say it is good to be 
back completely, but I notice that I am back and it is good to be here 
and see you, Mr. Speaker.


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