[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 25417-25418]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, few issues are of greater concern to 
American families than quality, affordable health care. Americans want 
an end to HMO abuses. They want good health insurance coverage. They 
want a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens under Medicare. 
They want to preserve and strengthen Medicare, so that Medicare will be 
there for both today's senior citizens and tomorrow's senior citizens. 
And they want these priorities not only for themselves and their loved 
ones but for every American, because they know that good health care 
should be a basic right for all.
  The choice in this election is clear on health care--and it is not 
just a choice between different programs. It is also a choice based on 
who can be trusted to do the right thing for the American people. Al 
Gore's record and his proposals are clear. He has been deeply involved 
in health care throughout his career. The current administration has 
made significant progress in improving health care in a variety of 
ways--from expanding health insurance for children to protecting 
Medicare for seniors. He has consistently stood for patients and 
against powerful special interests.
  Al Gore has laid out a constructive program that is consistent with 
his solid record. He is for expanding insurance coverage to all 
Americans, starting with children and their parents. He is for a strong 
Patients' Bill of Rights to end abuses by HMOs. He has a sensible plan 
for adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare. He will fight to 
preserve Medicare, without unacceptable changes designed to undermine 
Medicare and force senior citizens into HMOs and private insurance 
plans.
  George W. Bush's approach is very different. His proposals are deeply 
flawed. But even worse than the specifics of his proposals is his 
failure to come clean with the American people about his record in 
Texas or about his own proposals.
  On health care, George Bush doesn't just have a credibility gap. He 
has a credibility chasm.
  He has consistently stood with the powerful against the people. He 
refuses to take on the drug companies--or the insurance companies--or 
the HMOs. His budget plan puts tax cuts for the wealthy ahead of every 
other priority, and leaves no room for needed investments in American 
families. On health care, his values are not the values of the American 
people.
  On the issue of the Patients' Bill of Rights, George Bush said in the 
third debate that he supports a national Patients' Bill of Rights. He 
said he wanted all people covered. He said that he was in favor of a 
patient's right to sue, as provided under Texas law. He said he brought 
Republicans and Democrats

[[Page 25418]]

together in the State of Texas to pass a Patients' Bill of Rights.
  That's what he said, but it is not true. Governor Bush knows his 
record on health care can't stand the light of day. So on national TV, 
he patently deceived the American people about his record, hoping no 
one would notice, or else hoping people would give him a pass because 
he didn't know any better and simply spouted what his spin doctors had 
given him.
  But the truth has a way of coming to the surface. Here is what he did 
on the Patients' Bill of Rights.
  He vetoed the first Patients' Bill of Rights passed in Texas. He 
fought to make the second bill as narrow and limited as possible. He 
was so opposed to the provision allowing patients to sue their HMOs 
that he refused to sign the final bill, allowing it to become law 
without his signature. That is not a record that recommends him for 
national office to any citizen concerned about a strong, effective 
Patients' Bill of Rights. It is the record of a candidate who stands 
with powerful insurance companies and HMOs, not with American families, 
and he isn't honest about his record.
  On Thursday, Senator Hutchison stated that the only reason Governor 
Bush vetoed the first bill and let the right to sue under the second 
bill become law without his signature was because there was 
disagreement on how high the caps on pain and suffering would be. I 
regret that my colleague has been misled. The fact is that there was no 
provision for lawsuits in the first Patients' Bill of Rights bill 
vetoed by the Governor. Let me reiterate--there was no provision for 
lawsuits at all in the first bill. Yet the Governor vetoed it.
  In the second bill, there was also no issue about the caps on pain 
and suffering. Texas already had caps on pain and suffering under its 
general tort law, and everyone assumed that those caps would apply to 
lawsuits against HMOs. There was never any discussion of this issue. 
The fact is that Governor Bush, despite what he says today, simply does 
not believe that health plans should be held accountable. That is why 
he refused to sign the law allowing suits against HMOs. Once again, he 
has distorted his record in Texas--and both the record and the 
distortions call into serious question where he would stand as 
President.
  Governor Bush is quick to challenge the integrity of others. But on 
this issue, his integrity is on the line as well. ``Distort, dissemble, 
and deny'' on an issue as important as this is not a qualification for 
the next President of the United States.
  On health insurance, the record is equally clear--and equally bleak. 
Governor Bush claims he wants insurance for all Americans. He blames 
Vice President Gore for the growth in the number of the uninsured. But 
Governor Bush's record in Texas is one of the worst in the country. 
Texas has the second highest proportion of uninsured Americans in the 
country. It has the second highest proportion of uninsured children in 
the country. Yet, Governor Bush has not only done nothing to address 
this problem, he has actually fought against solutions. In Texas, he 
placed a higher priority on large new tax breaks for the oil industry, 
instead of good health care for children and their families.
  When Congress passed the Child Health Insurance Program in 1997, we 
put affordable health insurance for children within reach of every 
moderate- and low-income working family in America. Yet George Bush's 
Texas was one of the last States in the country to fully implement the 
law. Despite the serious health problems faced by children in Texas, 
Governor Bush actually fought to keep eligibility as narrow as 
possible.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's 30 minutes have expired.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. SESSIONS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to be able to 
speak for 15 minutes in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
Senator has that right.

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