[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 2, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S4169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TIMEOUT FOR THE UNINSURED

 Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask consent that the following 
article be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

                [From the Washington Post, May 2, 2001]

                       Timeout for the Uninsured

       House Conferees have been fighting with their Senate 
     counterparts to reduce the spending levels in the 
     congressional budget resolution. No doubt some cuts can be 
     made in the Senate totals without the country's suffering 
     harm. But at least one relatively minor Senate proposal 
     deserves to remain.
       Oregon Sens. Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden won inclusion in 
     the budget of an additional $28 billion over three years to 
     reduce the number of Americans without health insurance. The 
     money would mainly be spent on lower-income people. Exactly 
     how would be up to the authorizing committees, but an add-on 
     of some kind to Medicaid and/or the children's health 
     insurance program that Congress enacted several years ago 
     seems most likely. The modest expansion would hardly solve 
     the un-insurance problem, but it would push in the right 
     direction.
       About a seventh of the population remains uninsured. Most 
     are poor or near poor. They lack insurance mainly because 
     they can't afford it. The administration has proposed a tax 
     credit to help those whose employers don't offer insurance. 
     But the credit would cover only part of the cost of an 
     average policy, and most uninsured families still would find 
     such a policy beyond their means. Some people think the 
     industry might respond by offering only partial policies, but 
     it's not clear that would be a good result, either.
       The administration proposal has some interesting features 
     and would do limited good, but limited is the operative word. 
     The spending programs for the lower-income uninsured have 
     shown themselves to be efficient ways of increasing coverage. 
     Whatever the fate of the tax credit, they should be expanded. 
     Much attention has lately been paid to the health care 
     problems of the already insured. The elderly lack a drug 
     benefit; people enrolled in managed care complain that care 
     is sometimes sacrificed to cost. But at least these people 
     have insurance. More than 40 million don't. The budget 
     argument this year has been mainly about how large a tax cut 
     to give the better-off. What about a timeout to pay a little 
     heed to those who can't afford to get sick?

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