[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17628]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 17628]]

              HEALTH CARE SAFETY NET OVERSIGHT ACT OF 2000

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased to cosponsor the Health Care 
Safety Net Oversight Act of 2000, which is an important step toward 
addressing a critical issue facing our country: the fact that over 40 
million Americans lack health insurance.
  While it is natural to question the need for any new commission, I 
believe this legislation is more than warranted given the fact that 
there is such a substantial number of Americans who are uninsured and 
there is to date no comprehensive solution to this problem.
  Despite the hard work of Community Health Centers in Utah and 
throughout the Nation, and despite the many, many efforts of others who 
are working to improve health care delivery in hospitals, emergency 
rooms and clinics, two facts remain. First, it is deplorable that in a 
Nation as great as the United States, we still have so many people who 
lack basic health care services. And second, there is no national 
consensus on how this problem should be addressed by the public and 
private sectors.
  It is obvious that we need to begin the process toward developing 
that necessary consensus, and I believe the Health Care Safety Net 
Oversight Commission's work will help us meet that goal.
  I commend Senator Baucus and my colleagues for their work which has 
led to introduction of our bipartisan bill tonight. As the legislation 
progresses, I do want to work with them to improve a limited number of 
provisions in the bill, including the funding source for the 
Commission.

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