[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 4 (Monday, January 24, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, rising health care costs and access to 
affordable health insurance are among the biggest worries Americans 
face today.
  Health care costs are increasing faster than any other basic service 
in American society. Today, 44 million Americans lack health insurance 
at any given point during the year, and between 20 to 30 million of 
them are chronically uninsured.
  My Republican colleagues and I will soon be introducing one of our 
priority bills for the coming Congress. This legislation, the Healthy 
America Act of 2005, will bring together an aggressive and innovative 
set of health care solutions. These solutions build on the already 
impressive health care record of the last Congress--principally 
delivering Medicare prescription drug coverage to seniors and making 
tax-free health savings accounts available to all Americans.
  Our bill will include many of President Bush's health care reform 
priorities, as well as the proposals developed last year by the Senate 
Republican Task Force on Health Care Costs and the Uninsured, of which 
I was proud to be a member.
  At the heart of this legislation are measures aimed at restraining 
health care costs, increasing access to care, and improving health care 
quality.
  Toward this end, one of our--and the President's--topmost priorities 
is comprehensive reform of America's costly, unfair, and chaotic 
medical liability system. Our bill will ensure fair and rapid 
compensation to injured patients, reduce frivolous lawsuits, and limit 
excessive and costly damage awards.
  Also especially important, I believe, is the creation of a new 
national framework for establishing personal electronic health records 
and for exchanging health information securely and privately. As the 
new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 
Committee I will be working closely with my colleagues in the coming 
months to develop legislation that will speed the adoption of standards 
and enable systems to ``talk'' to each other--reforms that eventually 
will save billions of dollars and, potentially, many thousands of 
lives.
  Other critical features of this legislation include a commitment to 
reforming the struggling small group and individual health insurance 
markets, expanding the availability of health savings accounts, HSAs, 
creating targeted tax credits to help Americans purchase private health 
insurance, and expanding America's Community Health Centers and related 
facilities.
  Mr. President, this legislation will be a solid foundation and a 
promising beginning as we begin this new Congress. Together with my 
colleagues and with the President, I will work tirelessly to assure 
that health care costs, access, and quality are at the forefront of our 
priorities in the weeks and months ahead.

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