[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H2877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              KENNEDY-KASSEBAUM HEALTH CARE REFORM EFFORT

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, health insurance reform is long overdue. 
As we know, fewer Americans are able to obtain health insurance now, 
and the cost of that health insurance keeps going up. So my colleague, 
the gentlewoman from New Jersey, Mrs. Roukema, had a very good idea, 
which is shared in the Senate by Senator Kassebaum and Senator Kennedy 
on a bipartisan basis, to put forth a bill in this House that would 
make it easier for people to take health insurance from one job to 
another. We call that portability. We also try to make it easier for 
people who have preexisting conditions or perhaps were disabled with 
some sort of health disorder, that they would be able to buy health 
insurance.
  We are all supportive of this. The Democrats, over 170, have said 
that they support it, but the Republican leadership here is trying to 
load down this bill with all kinds of extraneous material in terms of 
the best example is medical savings accounts that will actually drive 
up the cost of health insurance for the average person and make health 
insurance less affordable.
  It is time now that we got together on a bipartisan basis and passed 
the Kennedy-Kassebaum-Roukema bill to make health insurance more 
affordable and make it possible for more people to obtain health 
insurance.

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