[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10273-10274]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                               HMO REFORM

  (Mr. GANSKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. GANSKE. Mr. Speaker, I want to correct the record. The other 
night I gave a special order on HMO reform and inadvertently mentioned 
the NFIB. In fact, the results I mentioned were from the National 
Survey of Small Business Executives on Health Care by the Kaiser-
Harvard Program on Public Health and Social Policy. I was correct, 
however, in citing the numbers.
  When this group of 300 small business executives was asked if HMO 
reform were passed into law and would increase premiums by up to $5 a 
month, only 1 percent said they would drop coverage and 5 percent did 
not know; 94 percent would continue coverage.
  This cost is in the range of what I think my legislation would affect 
premiums. This is borne out by the CEO of

[[Page 10274]]

Iowa Blue Cross/Blue Shield telling me that his plan is implementing 
the President's commission recommendations on quality and they do not 
expect to see an increase in premiums from that.
  Mr. Speaker, the opponents of HMO reform are trying to scare people 
about the effects of cost on access to care. I will be happy to share 
this survey of small business executives with anyone who wants to see 
some real data.

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