[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H6715-H6716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TIME TO PASS HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I have taken to the floor many times in the 
last few months to talk about the need to pass health insurance reform, 
the bill that was originally sponsored by Senators Kennedy and 
Kassebaum on a bipartisan basis that would try to achieve significant 
reform in the areas of portability and preexisting conditions.
  I have also been very critical of the Republican leadership in the 
House which continues to press an amendment or an addition, if you 
will, to the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill that would include medical savings 
accounts.
  I have referred to the medical savings accounts as the poison pill 
that basically will bring down health insurance reform this year and 
could very well make it impossible to pass any health insurance reform 
that would address the issues of portability and preexisting 
conditions.
  I mention this today on the floor, Mr. Speaker, because there was an 
excellent editorial in the Star Ledger, which is New Jersey's largest 
circulation daily, which essentially addressed the issue of health 
insurance reform as well as medical savings accounts and pointed out 
how significant this legislation is in terms of providing additional 
health insurance for many Americans who lose their health insurance 
when they lose a job or because of a prior medical condition.

  The editorial also details to some extent, I would say, why we should 
not include medical savings accounts if we ever want to see health 
insurance reform and to see more Americans covered by health insurance. 
So Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to read, if I could, some relevant 
sections of this editorial that was in the New Jersey Star Ledger 
today, because I think it really says it all in terms of where we are 
going or should be going with this health reform issue.
  It starts out and it says:

       The latest census bureau study says that 66.6 million 
     people, one of every five Americans, will lose their medical 
     coverage for a month or more during any 28-month period. That 
     means a huge part of the population is always vulnerable to a 
     major health care problem. It also makes it clear why 
     Congress must stop playing games and pass a bill that would 
     help protect people who get caught between jobs and lose 
     their health coverage.
       In the same time it takes for you to lose your coverage and 
     get it back, your new insurance company can, and most likely 
     will, stamp ``prior and existing illness'' on any condition 
     you have, on anything that turns up within the first few 
     months of the new coverage, whether it's pregnancy, cancer, 
     heart disease, or your child's asthma--and the company will 
     refuse to pay.
       So, to the list of the chronically uninsured, you can add 
     those who have insurance that does a fat lot of good for the 
     health problems they face. This addresses the problem of 
     preexisting conditions.
       The most vulnerable are people who are laid off or switch 
     jobs, including those who switch to better jobs where the 
     health benefits may be improved but come with a waiting 
     period before the coverage kicks in. It's the kind of thing 
     that can make a bigger

[[Page H6716]]

     paycheck smaller faster tan you can say, ``Why doesn't 
     someone do something about this?''

  Mr. Speaker, the Star Ledger says that, ``Somebody is trying.'' They 
point out that, ``the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, sponsored by one Democrat 
and one Republican, would restrict the insurance companies' ability to 
impose waiting periods or deny coverage for existing health problems. 
The bill would give people who are caught between jobs a better change 
of holding on to health coverage that means something. It is a 
conservative and useful beginning to health care reform.''
  However, ``the bill is bogged down because some of the same people 
who have been telling us we do not need to tinker with the health care 
system could not resist tinkering with this bill and they've added all 
sorts of amendments, including one that would allow medical savings 
accounts.
  ``Medical savings accounts are offered as a way for everyone to self-
insure by putting money in tax-sheltered accounts as an alternative to 
buying coverage.
  ``Of course, since most people cannot afford health insurance 
premiums, it's not likely most can sock away as much cash as it would 
take to cover the family's medical needs. That is why medical savings 
accounts are nothing but a tax break that would cost the Government and 
benefit only the wealthy as well as a heavy Republican contributor 
pushing this approach.''
  What the Star Ledger is saying in this editorial, Mr. Speaker, is 
that it is time for us in the House of Representatives, as well as in 
the Senate, to push forward with health insurance reform that will help 
those who change jobs, the issue of portability, or help those who lose 
their job, or help those who have preexisting conditions.
  Too many Americans, anywhere from 40 to 60 million Americans, could 
benefit from this legislation, and it is simply being held up because 
the Republican leadership insists on including these medical savings 
accounts simply because of special interests. They received something 
like $1.2 million in the last few years from the Golden Rule Insurance 
Co., which is pushing these accounts. It is time for real health 
insurance reform.

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