[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H9568]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      KENNEDY HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM BILL BROUGHT TO HOUSE FLOOR

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, it is a testimony to President Clinton and 
to the Democrats in Congress that the Kennedy health insurance reform 
bill will finally be brought to the floor in the House of 
Representatives today.
  It was not until President Clinton this year, in his State of the 
Union address, said that he wanted to see health care reform and that 
people could take their health insurance with them when they changed 
jobs or lost jobs, or that they would not be barred from health 
insurance because of preexisting medical conditions, it was not until 
the President came forward and said he wanted that bill, a clean bill 
passed, that finally we were able to, grudgingly, get the Republican 
leadership to move this health insurance reform bill.
  Even so, the Republican leadership constantly tried to kill and 
destroy the bill by throwing in the poison pill of medical savings 
accounts. Finally, the bill that comes to the floor today is 
essentially a clean bill. There is some provision for MSA's but it is a 
very small provision.
  It was the recognition of the fact that only a clean bill, as 
promulgated and as preached by President Clinton, could pass this House 
and pass the Senate, it was only when the Republican leadership 
understood that, that it was possible to bring this bill to the floor 
today.

                          ____________________