[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NO ONE OUT OF THE POOL

  (Mrs. SCHROEDER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, it is summertime. When most Americans 
hear ``Everybody in the pool,'' they think it is a great cry to join in 
the fun. But we have been hearing pleas for health care reform from the 
other side of the aisle, and they are absolutely right. We desperately 
need many of the provisions in that health care reform. What they 
forget to tell us is that the basic premise of a good insurance program 
is everybody stays in the pool, because we can only keep premiums down 
if everybody stays in the pool.
  The other side forgets to tell us that they are only going to give us 
those reforms if they are allowed to drop a ladder in the pool. The 
name of that ladder is MSA. Meet MSA. Think MSA. It means ladder. It 
means if you are rich, you can get out of the pool. If you are healthy, 
you get out of the pool. Who do we leave in the pool? We are going to 
have a whole lot of reforms that are needed, but we are going to have 
premiums so high we will not be able to get there.
  I think it is very important to have both sides of this issue, and 
``Everybody in the pool'' better have a real meaning on this one.

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