Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 9, 1993 TAG: 9303090267
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
HEALTH PLAN PROMISES HELP FOR ALL
First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the health-care legislation she is helping to draft would create a guaranteed "core of benefits" for all Americans, similar to a standard insurance policy but with an emphasis on preventive health care.Clinton said the White House has no plans to seek higher taxes from the middle class to pay for the new programs and that she views taxes on health-carebenefits as "unfair" to the "people who have paid the price in the 1980s."
Echoing her husband, she said so-called sin taxes, such as those on cigarettes, were a good source of financing the reforms "because those are health-related."
Charged by President Clinton with directing the health-care task force, she sought to soften concerns about her role. "I kind of view myself in some ways as a citizen representative," she said, adding that she would not make final decisions on the legislative proposal.
Clinton told The Associated Press that her husband's health-care reforms could be financed in part by cutting $200 billion worth of red tape - paperwork and processes that infuriate health-care providers and consumers alike. She ticked off several options, such as standardizing reporting forms - which she termed a "windfall to providers" - and possibly eliminating Medicare subsidies to schools for training specialists.
Like her husband, Clinton said a tax on cigarettes, which hits low- and middle-class people the hardest, would be justified because of the health hazards of smoking which drive up health-care costs.
She did not elaborate on the financing options, but there are several other ways to raise money for the reforms, including tax increases on insurance companies and health-care providers - such as doctors and hospitals.
Clinton also:
Defended the decision to have the task force meet in secret, saying it is an effort to stem the influence of special interests. "We do not want to have health-care legislation in the Clinton administration written by any special-interest group," she said.
Promised that people who now have adequate health-care coverage will not suffer under reforms aimed at providing insurance to everybody else. About 36 million people, or about 15 percent of the population, lack health coverage.
Discussed plans to give the package a hard sell to the public. "I view this as a campaign," she said.
She said the legislation, due to Congress in May, will create a national guaranteed "core of benefits." This basic insurance package will resemble a typical insurance policy.
Clinton said the details haven't been worked out, but major hospitalization and preventive health-care coverage are likely components of the guaranteed benefits package.
Working under a budget that would limit how much the nation can spend on health care, state-level "cooperatives" likely will negotiate with insurers, health-maintenance organizations or others to develop insurance packages tailored to their populations. These packages will incorporate the "core of benefits" and ensure flexibility at the grass-roots level.
A typical family might be able to choose among an HMO plan that covers routine doctors visits for children, a traditional fee-for-service plan and several other packages, she said.
Seated in the East Wing library at the White House, Clinton referred to her husband repeatedly as "the president," taking care not to overstate her role in the reforms. The task force begins winnowing its long list of options this week; she said she will play a minor role.
"I leave that to most of the people who are involved in this process because they know more than I do," she said.
Clinton said her main job has been to gather together the dozens of health-care workers and experts to work on the project. She also will be the key saleswoman.
"In order to present this effectively to the American people it's going to be very important to spend an enormous amount of time communicating about it, and soliciting reaction so it can be shepherded through Congress and enacted this year," she said.
"I view this as a campaign . . . for the future of America."
She plans to travel the country, using polls and other campaign techniques to convince Americans that the reforms will provide them better and cheaper health care in the long run.
The task force has not determined how much the reforms will cost - although estimates climb as high as $90 billion - and has not decided how to propose paying for them, she said.
She said there would be no middle-class tax increase.
"We will look for other alternatives, either a slightly longer phase-in or quicker cost-containment before we do that," she said.