Healthy Americans Act
Floor Speech
HEALTHY AMERICANS ACT -- (Senate - May 08, 2007)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I believe we have about 13 additional minutes to go. The distinguished Senator from Utah has given a superb description of the history and why it is time to break with 60 years of policy. I would like to, because the distinguished Senator was there during the last effort, the 1993-1994 debate, get his sense about how the approach that we have been talking about--linking together universal coverage with these private choices that individuals would make--is it the Senator's judgment that had that been done in 1993 and 1994 with the efforts of Senator Chafee, himself, and others that we might well have been able to pass legislation right then, 15 years ago, had we taken this approach?
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I say to my friend from Oregon that some of us proposed that during that debate. He is right to mention John Chafee. John Chafee was a towering figure in this body. He was the head of the Republican health care task force. We talked about an individual mandate as opposed to an employer mandate.
The core of the bill that was on the Senate floor, sponsored by then-majority leader George Mitchell, was an employer mandate. And in the partisan nature of that debate, we Republicans organized ourselves to stop that bill. We divided the bill into various sections, and my assignment was to attack the employer mandate. I had a stack of material that high to help me do that with my fellow Senators. But as I would talk with people on the other side, I would say: Let's talk about an individual mandate. I think everyone should have some kind of coverage.
I think it is in society's best interest to have everyone have some kind of coverage. We do it with auto insurance. You can't drive if you don't have an individual insurance plan. So that is how we get universal coverage.
The political stars simply weren't lined up to deal with it. But this is not a new idea. It was around that long ago, and if we had done it, I think we could have passed legislation.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I appreciate the Senator's comments.
The other area I have picked up over the last 15 years where there has been dramatic interest and is an opportunity for bipartisanship--and I have heard the Senator from Utah talk about it--is this area of prevention. We know with the Medicare Program that something like 4 percent of those on Medicare consume over half the dollars because we are seeing so much of the health care money go to treatment of what are often preventable illnesses--heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and others.
What we have tried to do in the Healthy Americans Act is to create some incentives for families and prevention, and, for example, if parents took a youngster to a wellness program--they wouldn't be required to do it, although we know it makes sense--the parents would be eligible for a discount on the parents' premium, again using these voluntary incentives.
What is the Senator's sense for the opportunities for prevention? I have
been struck by some of what the Senator from Utah has said about prevention in the past.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, the record is very clear that when people spend time taking care of themselves, their health care costs go down dramatically. We had examples presented to us from companies that have done that; that is, companies that have been very aggressive in trying to make sure their employees stay healthy rather than simply pay for what happens when they get sick.
The CEO of General Mills was with Senator Wyden and me at the press conference this week in which he talked about the things they have done in their company. They have held their health care cost increases to the level of inflation. We would all be thrilled with that because health care costs have been going up in double digits for years now.
People respond to incentives, and if there are incentives for parents, incentives for employees to stay healthy rather than simply waiting for the ultimate bill to come along, we will make a significant difference.
If I can be personal for one quick moment, I once worked for Howard Hughes. In the Hughes organization in the 1960s and 1970s, we had absolutely total health care coverage. Anything that had to do with health care, we would send in the bill, and it would get paid 100 percent. I sent in my kids' orthodontist bills, and they paid for straightening their teeth. There wasn't any concern about what was covered or what wasn't. I figured I could have sent in the vet bills for my dog and probably gotten reimbursed, but I didn't do that.
I look back on that and the sense of security and abundance that came from that led me to overuse the system and to not worry about how well we were because they would take care of us. So I have had a personal experience about how important it is to pay attention to health at the front end.
Mr. WYDEN. I close, Mr. President--and the Senator has been very gracious to do this with me this morning--with why it would be important to have a bipartisan initiative now. As we have discussed, the conventional thinking is that the Congress can't deal with something such as this now; that this will be for the next President. But I think the two of us would very much like to bring the Senate together behind what the country wants to do today, which is to fix health care.
I have always gotten the sense that when you have divided Government--the President of one party, the Congress of another--that is the ideal time to try to bring the Congress together to tackle a big issue, and there is nothing bigger than health care at home. I think it would be appropriate.
I appreciate the Senator from Utah for coming and for his support, to hear his thoughts on bringing the Congress together and the country together to finally deal with an issue where there has been so much polarization in the past.
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