[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 83 (Friday, June 7, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5977-S5978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, today is another unfortunate setback for 
the cause of health reform. It appears that the opportunity for 
meaningful reform has been lost again. Barring a last-minute change of 
heart and mind and strategy, Senator Dole will be leaving the Senate 
next Tuesday without exercising the leadership needed to make even the 
modest consensus reform in the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill a reality.
  I regret very much that ``Dr. Dole'' is prescribing a poison pill for 
this consensus legislation. Medical savings accounts do not belong in 
this legislation. Several reasonable compromises on that highly 
controversial issue have been offered and categorically rejected. The 
full-blown MSA proposal demanded by Republicans is a death sentence for 
this legislation. I intend to oppose it as vigorously as possible, and 
if it should even reach President Clinton's desk, I am confident he 
will give it the veto it deserves.
  It is clear House Republicans are pursuing a their way or no way 
strategy, and Senator Dole has chosen to be a part of it. With his 
departure from the Senate next week, the chance for any health 
insurance reform this year is slim.
  Millions of Americans will suffer unnecessarily because Senator Dole 
has put gridlock ahead of the needs of the 25 million working families 
who would benefit from the consensus reform in the original bill, 
before it was poisoned by the MSA bill.
  Senator Dole left the impression yesterday that meaningful 
negotiations for an acceptable compromise were taking place and that 
this issue was close to being resolved because Republicans were open to 
changes in the MSA provisions to accommodate Democratic concerns. It 
now appears, however, that the intransigence of the House Republicans 
has prevailed.
  The Kassebaum-Kennedy bill was passed 60 to 0 by the Committee on

[[Page S5978]]

Labor and Human Resources and 100 to 0 by the full Senate. The bill was 
entirely noncontroversial, and it makes no sense to saddle it with this 
last-minute killer controversy. If the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill were 
passed by Congress today, it would be signed by the President tomorrow.
  This bill has had two unanimous bipartisan votes in the Senate, first 
in committee and again on the Senate floor. Yet it is going to die 
because of the Republicans' decision to force it to swallow this bitter 
poison pill.
  Under the Republican plan, medical savings accounts could be sold to 
every employee of every business in America with more than 50 
workers, approximately two-thirds of all workers, more than 80 million 
employees, and within a few years, they will be extended to everyone 
else. Some compromise.

  A massive untested right wing health idea is being forced on the 
country. Any such massive plan is irresponsible and unacceptable.
  Reasonable compromises are possible, but what House Republicans want 
is capitulation, not compromise.
  Not everyone agrees that medical savings accounts are a bad idea, but 
surely we should agree that they ought to be tested first before being 
imposed full-blown on the American people.
  We all know what is going on. MSA's reward a handful of insurance 
companies that have contributed lavishly to Republicans in Congress, 
and they profit handsomely from the worst abuses of the current system.
  The Golden Rule Insurance Co., with $1.5 million in campaign 
contributions, is the political engine driving this proposal. The 
company does business selling MSA's, and it will profit immensely from 
the Republican plan. Yet, the company refuses to share the data on its 
plans with impartial analysts at the American Academy of Actuaries and 
other bodies. The company, and its Republican allies, are thumbing 
their nose at the public interest and asking the American people to buy 
a pig in a poke.
  Why should the taxpayers be asked to subsidize such a scheme with 
billions of dollars in lavish tax breaks that will go primarily to the 
wealthy? Medical savings accounts tax the sick for the benefit of the 
healthy and wealthy. They discourage preventive care by enticing the 
healthiest Americans to leave their current broad insurance pool. MSA's 
violate a bedrock principle of health insurance: Broad-based coverage 
to spread the risk of illness among large numbers of citizens in order 
to make insurance premiums affordable for those who need health care.
  Adoption of MSA's will raise premiums for everyone else and threaten 
the very existence of conventional health insurance. It will cost the 
Treasury billions of dollars that should be used to expand health 
insurance coverage or go for deficit reduction.
  They represent a risky and unnecessary experiment that threatens the 
health insurance coverage of every American family. It would be 
reckless to include any such full-blown version of medical savings 
accounts in this bill. The Senate has already rejected this approach, 
and President Clinton will veto any bill that tries to impose this 
untried and dangerous idea on the country.
  The Republicans have also refused to appoint conferees to a fairly 
balanced conference. Despite repeated requests, they refuse to meet 
with Democrats for serious negotiation. They have ignored four separate 
compromises that we have offered to allow a fair test of medical 
savings accounts without endangering the tens of millions of Americans 
who depend on their current insurance.
  The Kassebaum-Kennedy bill contains a number of key consensus reforms 
that virtually everyone agrees on. It guarantees that no American will 
be denied health insurance or be saddled with exclusions for 
preexisting conditions because they change their job or lose their job 
or because their employer changes insurance companies. It provides help 
to small businesses that want to join together to negotiate 
lower insurance premiums of the kind that only large corporations can 
obtain today. Those reforms deserve to pass, and they will pass if 
Senator Dole relents.

  When Senator Dole leaves the Senate next week, he can take his health 
insurance with him. Every American should have the same right. Many 
times in recent weeks, Senator Dole has said he wants this bill to 
pass. For months, Senator Dole has criticized President Clinton for 
saying one thing and doing another. Senator Dole should look in the 
mirror this weekend and see what he has done.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. HEFLIN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.

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