[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5250-5251]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            THE HEALTH CARE THAT WORKS FOR ALL AMERICANS ACT

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, right now the eyes of the Nation are 
focused on international crises. The threat of war with Iraq, the 
conflict at the United Nations, and a diplomatic standoff with North 
Korea are all critical issues about which this country is concerned.
  But here at home there is a domestic crisis of massive proportions 
that affects the lives of millions of Americans each day; that is, the 
failure of our health care system to work for all Americans.
  I will take just a few minutes to discuss this because next week I 
anticipate that thousands of Americans will get together in communities 
across the Nation as part of the special effort to highlight the 
concerns of the uninsured. This is under the auspices of the Robert 
Wood Johnson Foundation, an organization that works in a nonpartisan 
fashion.
  I expect to see thousands of Americans in their communities--
businesspeople, senior citizens, labor organizations, those from 
charitable groups--so many who are falling between the cracks in our 
health care system speaking out and calling for congressional action. I 
think it is very timely because Congress must get at this critical 
issue.
  Very shortly, the senior Senator from Utah, Mr. Hatch, and I will 
again go forward with our bipartisan proposal, the Health Care That 
Works For All Americans Act. Our legislation has been endorsed by the 
Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, and the American Association of 
Retired Persons--three groups that do not normally flock together--
because I think there is a feeling that what has been tried for the 
last 57 years, in the effort to create a health care system that works 
for all, simply has not worked.
  For 57 years, there has been an effort to write health care 
legislation in Washington, DC. The American people find these bills 
illegible, the special interest groups attack, and invariably nothing 
happens.
  So what Senator Hatch and I will shortly propose is something 
fundamentally different, an effort to look outside the beltway here in 
Washington, DC, to the American people, an effort that will begin with 
the central questions, and coming up with a system that works for all 
Americans.
  Those questions are, first and foremost, what are the essential 
services Americans want in a comprehensive health reform bill? Second, 
what will those services cost? And, third, who is going to pay for 
them?
  I am of the view that getting the American people involved in those 
kinds of issues--issues that are central to creating a system that 
works for all--is the only way Congress is going to break the gridlock 
on this question.
  Right now, we are seeing our small businesses getting annual premiums 
rising more than 20 percent a year. Many health care providers, 
particularly physicians in rural and urban areas, are leaving the 
Government programs because of inadequate reimbursement rates. 
Certainly we have heard from many health care providers about rising 
insurance costs. And then, of course, for seniors, their prescription 
drug bills are hitting them just like a wrecking ball.
  All of this, of course, is happening before the demographic tsunami 
of millions of baby boomer retirees, as 2010 and 2011 approaches. In 
those years we are going to start seeing a bow wave of baby boomer 
retirees that is going to continue for 15 to 20 years, after it begins 
in 2010 and 2011, and clearly our health care system is not prepared 
for it.
  So the question then becomes, what is going to be done to break the 
gridlock on this issue? You have very powerful interests. And 
certainly, partisan feelings on these issues run very strongly. If you 
go to a lot of Republican meetings and talk about the health care cost 
crisis, they say: Of course it is a problem. We have to act on this. It 
is just the trial lawyers' fault. Let's go and take them on, and things 
will get better.
  Then if you go to a lot of Democratic meetings and talk about health 
care costs and the health care crisis, they will say: You bet it is the 
insurance companies. If you take them on, everything is going to get 
better.
  What Senator Hatch and I have said, in this essentially 
unprecedented, bipartisan effort, that really would involve the 
American people in creating a new health care system, is that we 
realize so many of these powerful organizations are going to have to 
look at changes that have been resisted in the past. My sense is it is 
time for the Congress to act, and to begin by ensuring there will be 
congressional action on these issues.
  If you look, for example, at the last time the Congress debated 
significant health reform, back in 1993 and 1994, there were not even 
any votes on this issue. After all of the debate and all of the 
controversy surrounding those proposals in 1993 and 1994, there were 
not even votes in the Congress on fundamental reforms.
  So what Senator Hatch and I have done is ensure that after the public 
is given an opportunity to weigh in--in community meetings, on line, 
and across the country--on the kind of health care system that would 
work for all Americans, we guarantee a vote on the floor of the Senate 
and a vote in the House of Representatives on this issue.
  I think by involving the public, and then following up promptly with 
an assurance there will actually be votes in the Congress on these 
issues, we have a chance to move this debate forward in a fashion we 
have not seen in the past.
  What seems unfortunate is there are lots of ideas with respect to how 
to move forward on comprehensive health reform but no vehicle for 
bringing together the American people and a way for Congress to follow 
up on those initiatives. That is why I have believed, with Senator 
Hatch, we can take a fresh approach that could really break with the 
past.
  I was struck, in preparing this legislation, how similar the efforts 
were over the last 58 years. If you look at what Harry Truman proposed 
in 1945, in the 81st Congress, it was remarkably similar, in terms of 
how the debate unfolded, to what President Clinton proposed in 1993 and 
1994. In both cases, you began with bills written in Washington, DC. 
The American people found the proposals incomprehensible. They were 
attacked by interest groups. And the legislation died at that point.
  I see the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the 
Chamber. I know he is going to begin discussion on the Estrada 
nomination very shortly.
  Since he is in the Chamber, I express my thanks to the distinguished 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He has been working with me for a 
substantial amount of time on our bipartisan health reform proposal. 
Because next week will involve thousands of Americans at the grassroots 
level talking about these issues, I thought it was important to come to 
the floor today and say that the Senate is now listening because the 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee has been willing to work with me on 
these issues, because he shares my view that it is critically important 
that we break the gridlock on the health care issue.
  I announce to the Senate that very shortly Senator Hatch and I will 
be going forward with our proposal, the Health Care that Works for All 
Americans Act. We have gotten a formal endorsement from the Chamber of 
Commerce, the AFL-CIO, and the AARP--three groups that do not exactly 
flock together on a regular basis. To a great

[[Page 5251]]

extent, those organizations have been involved because of the prestige 
and stature of the senior Senator from Utah. He is, of course, the 
author of the CHIP legislation, which was a tremendous breakthrough in 
terms of health care coverage for young people. He has worked with me 
extensively on community health center legislation.
  At a time when the eyes of our Nation are focused on international 
crises, I want to draw some attention to the incredible crisis at home 
with respect to health care. We have millions of citizens who are not 
old enough for Medicare. They are not poor enough for Medicaid. Small 
businesses are being crushed by annual premiums. Physicians are leaving 
the system. Older people are not able to afford their medicine. This 
Congress, with the ingenuity and the talent in this Chamber, can come 
up with a health care system that works for all Americans.
  Toward that end, I have been very gratified that the chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee, the senior Senator from Utah, has joined me for a 
substantial time. We are going to stay at it until we get our proposal 
on the floor and the Congress breaks with this 57-year gridlock on the 
health care issue, gridlock that dates back to the days of Harry 
Truman. We can do it with some bipartisanship, which is what the 
Senator from Utah and I have tried to offer.
  I will talk more about this next week when Coverage for the Uninsured 
Week begins across the country.
  I thank again the Senator from Utah and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham of South Carolina). The Senator 
from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. I thank my dear colleague from Oregon for his leadership 
in this area. When he was in the House, he was one of the great leaders 
on health care issues. He is repeating that leadership in the Senate. 
It is a privilege to work with him because you can rely on him. When he 
says he will do something, he does it. He is very intelligent in health 
care matters. I have a lot of respect for him, and it is a privilege to 
work with him. I hope people will listen to the bill that we will 
present because it is the way to at least move us off the dime and get 
us to do what we should be doing on health care. I thank him and pay 
tribute to him this morning.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I appreciate the courtesy of the Senator 
from Utah. We are going to move to the Estrada nomination in executive 
session. However, prior to doing that, Senator Roberts and I are here. 
We have long served on the Ethics Committee, and we have a statement we 
wish to give. Senator Hatch has agreed that we can do so prior to going 
to executive session.
  I ask unanimous consent that Senator Roberts and I be allowed to 
speak. As far as the time after that is concerned, we do not believe it 
needs to be equally divided. If Senator Hatch wants to take all the 
time, he can do that. I don't think we have anybody who wishes to 
speak.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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