[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 13, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1241-S1242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HEALTH INSURANCE

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, yesterday I was in Rome and Watertown, 
NY, to speak with members of the Rotary Clubs and chambers of commerce 
about the upstate New York economy and how we can work together to 
promote investment and job creation in these communities. I will carry 
their concerns about the economy to the Budget Committee on which I am 
pleased to serve and where we are fashioning the framework for the next 
Federal budget.
  We are hearing about surplus projections and words of caution, about 
how much faith to place in them. We are hearing about President Bush's 
tax cut plans and words of caution from colleagues who voted for big 
tax cuts in the early 1980s, cuts which helped contribute to the 
ruinous deficits and high interest rates that hobbles our Nation's 
capacity to create jobs, invest in people, and pay down our national 
debt. The budget resolution we create sets the stage for how much we 
can invest in health care, schools, and the other pressing needs of 
families throughout our country. Later this week, I will return to the 
floor to talk about the budget in greater detail.
  Today I would like to discuss a topic that transcends party, 
geography, and

[[Page S1242]]

ideology. It is an issue that is important to the people in Rome and 
Watertown, Rochester and Brooklyn, and everywhere I have been in recent 
weeks. It will be foremost in my mind as the outlines of the 2002 
budget take shape; that is, improving access to quality, affordable 
health care for New Yorkers, for all Americans, and especially for our 
children.
  In this session of Congress, we will need to focus on many aspects of 
health care, medical privacy, Medicaid funding, genetic discrimination, 
providing prescription drug coverage for our seniors, and long-term 
care for our families, among others. Today I will talk about the 
importance of insuring more Americans, particularly our children, and 
protecting the rights of those who are insured.
  In all corners of New York, I have met countless people who have told 
me powerful stories of the cruel inequities of our health care system. 
Last August, at the Dutchess County Fair, a single mother told me how 
hard it was to keep her family afloat because her medical bills totaled 
more than $30,000. She was worried she would become impoverished and 
forced to go on welfare.
  In Massena, an uninsured woman suffering from cancer told me how much 
trouble she had finding a doctor who would treat her for free. In the 
MonteFiore Children's Emergency Room in the Bronx, I saw children who 
had come there for asthma treatments because they had no health 
coverage and, therefore, no doctor of their own. From Buffalo to Bay 
Shore, the people of New York have urged me to go to the Senate to 
fight for better health care.
  Many of my colleagues will remember when I came to Capitol Hill 7 
years ago with an idea or two about how to improve health care in our 
country. At that time, I was privileged to work with the Acting 
President pro tempore's father, who served not only Rhode Island, but 
our entire country so well for so many years. We were not successful 
then, but I learned some valuable lessons about the legislative 
process, the importance of bipartisan cooperation, and the wisdom of 
taking small steps to get a big job done.
  The Clinton-Gore administration took such steps, and with the help of 
both Democrats and Republicans we made progress: the Kassebaum-Kennedy 
Health Insurance Portability and Protection Act, the Family and Medical 
Leave Act, the Children's Health Insurance Program, the help we gave to 
young people leaving the foster care system under the Chafee bill--to 
give them eligibility for Medicaid health coverage through their 21st 
birthday, ending drive-by deliveries, mental health parity, helping to 
prevent breast cancer by waiving cost sharing for mammography services 
in the Medicare program--and providing annual screening for 
beneficiaries age 40 and older, advances in federally funded medical 
research, and the human genome project.
  Even with such progress, however, there are still 40 million 
Americans who are uninsured. Adults with health insurance are three 
times more likely to receive care when they need it. People with no 
health insurance are 50 to 70 percent more likely to be hospitalized 
for routine illnesses such as pneumonia. Children with no health 
insurance are twice as likely to be hospitalized for illnesses such as 
asthma and ear infections. Americans without health insurance are 4 
times more likely to seek care in emergency rooms.
  It has only been 3 months since my election and 6 weeks since I was 
sworn in, but already I have received hundreds of letters from New 
Yorkers urging me to help them, their families, and their neighbors get 
the care and coverage they need. One such letter is from Kevin Pispisa, 
a Boy Scout from Troop 207 in North Babylon, whose parents are nurses. 
Kevin wrote to me:

       It seems that the poor working class do not have the means 
     to receive adequate health care. Some of them cannot afford 
     to go to the doctor or pay for medication that they need.

  Elsie Doetsch from Binghampton wrote to tell me about her friends who 
are dairy farmers. She is concerned about them because, as she writes 
in her letter to me:

       They work every day to help put the food we eat and enjoy 
     on our tables, yet cannot afford the ``luxury'' of health 
     insurance, which I feel is a necessity for anyone in their 
     hazardous occupation.

  These letters serve as an important reminder to us all as we think 
about President Bush's tax cut plans and as we deliberate over the 
shape of our new budget. We must not forget to invest in the people we 
represent. We must help them find affordable quality health care. 
Health insurance should not be a luxury; it should be a fact of life 
for Americans everywhere.
  Let me be specific. We should expand the Children's Health Insurance 
Program. If we change the poverty threshold to include children and 
families with annual incomes up to 300 percent of the national poverty 
level and extend the program to parents of eligible children, we can 
provide health care to more than 5 million parents and nearly 2 million 
more children. Merely expanding CHIP, however, is not enough. We need 
to do more to encourage the enrollment of the 7 million children who 
are eligible for CHIP, or Medicaid.
  I am very pleased that in New York, CHIP outreach efforts include 
radio PSAs in a number of languages, from Greek to Russian to Albanian 
to Creole to Chinese. We should provide a financial bonus to States 
that meet CHIP enrollment targets and reduce the CHIP-enhanced matching 
rate for States that fail to do so.
  There are other creative ideas to provide greater access to health 
care for all Americans. As we consider them, I believe we should adhere 
to certain principles. First, we must develop policies that cover more 
uninsured Americans without encouraging businesses to drop or reduce 
their employees' health benefits. Second, we should make improvements 
to our health care system without setting up burdensome new Federal or 
State bureaucracies. Third, we should not penalize States such as New 
York that have been leaders in expanding coverage. Fourth, we should 
encourage flexibility for States to expand coverage while enacting 
strong accountability provisions so that taxpayer dollars are 
effectively invested.

  As we work to expand health care coverage, we must also work to 
improve the quality of coverage. That is why it is past time to pass a 
meaningful Patients' Bill of Rights, and I am very pleased to be a 
cosponsor of the McCain-Edwards-Kennedy Patient Protection Act of 2001.
  President Bush recently set out his principles for a Patients' Bill 
of Rights, and this legislation meets every one of them with only one 
exception: The President wants to preempt State laws that allow people 
to seek relief in State courts when they are injured by bad HMO 
decisions. That objection should not stand in the way of progress. I 
believe President Bush can transform the rhetoric of leadership into 
the reality of accomplishment by embracing this bipartisan patient 
protection act. Across this aisle and across our country, Democrats and 
Republicans are joined together in support of this Patients' Bill of 
Rights. Say the word, President Bush, and we can make this bill a law.
  I appreciate the opportunity to speak today, and I look forward to 
working with my colleagues on improving the health of our Nation in the 
context of a budget that is balanced and prudent.
  I would also like to take this occasion to pay special thanks to my 
predecessor, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose legacy of service 
to New York and our Nation is unparalleled and who has always been a 
source of inspiration, not only to me and my colleagues but to people 
literally around our world.
  Finally, I am so grateful to the people of New York who have given me 
this extraordinary opportunity to serve them. Over the course of the 
next 6 years, I will work hard each and every day to listen to their 
concerns and to fight for their futures.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.

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