[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E128-E129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INTRODUCTION OF HEALTHY START ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 4, 1997

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing a variation of a bill 
proposed in the last Congress by our colleague, Representative Sam 
Gibbons of Florida, to provide universal health insurance for all 
American children and their mothers during pregnancy. The bill, 
entitled the Healthy Start Act of 1997, will end the national disgrace 
of 10 million uninsured children under age 18 and American women going 
through pregnancy without health insurance and without adequate 
prenatal care.
  The bill is an investment in the future: healthier mothers and their 
children will mean a better American work force and economy. This bill 
has a price tag--but it has a pay-out that is beyond calculation in 
dollars and in a better quality of life.
  The bill would ensure that every child in America up to age 18 and 
every pregnant woman would have health insurance roughly equivalent to 
the Medicare package of benefits, enhanced with pregnancy, well-baby, 
well-child and EPSDT benefits.
  The bill is very, very simple: If a family does not have this package 
of insurance through the private market or the workplace, they would be 
required to buy it. If they are below the poverty level, they would owe 
nothing. Above the poverty level, they would buy it on a sliding scale 
basis, with premiums paid through the tax system.
  The bill is a form of individual mandate: each parent is responsible 
for doing the right thing by their kids--and the Government's role is 
to make it affordable.
  We have business alone.
  We allow people to buy private policies as an alternative.
  We maintain freedom of choice.
  We don't disrupt families who already have insurance and are happy 
with their policies.
  The need for this type of legislation is eloquently described in 
Representative Gibbons introductory remarks, and I refer readers to 
page E1252 of the July 11, 1996, Congressional Record. The only 
difference between this bill and the original Gibbons bill is that my 
bill covers all children up to age 18, rather than age 13, and adds the 
EPSDT benefits as part of the required coverage for children.

[[Page E129]]

  I am also introducing today a bill for a refundable, phased-out tax 
credit to help parents buy a kids'-only health insurance policy. 
Frankly, I think the universal insurance bill that I've described in 
this speech is the ideal approach. It is a model of what a civilized 
nation ought to provide for its people. It is the platonic ideal of a 
bill--and it is also unlikely to pass in this Congress. The perfect 
should not be the enemy of the good, and therefore I am also proposing 
the tax credit legislation as a way to help children which is passable 
in the 105th Congress.
  I remain firm in the faith that when our Nation's social conscious 
reawakes, the type of social insurance universal coverage bill I've 
described in this speech will become the law of the land.

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