Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407290083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Democrats stressed Thursday the differences between their bill and President Clinton's plan, which has been slipping steadily in the polls.
Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., called the House bill ``a very moderate extension of all that is sound and effective in the present system.''
Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which contributed much of the plan, said, "It's going to be very different from the Clinton bill in how the basic goals of cost containment and coverage are met. It will be much less bureaucratic and will phased in over a longer period.''
Clinton's proposal would have required all employers to help pay for coverage by 1998. Levin said that under the House plan, companies with 100 or more workers would be required to pay by 1997. Firms with fewer than 100 employees would have to comply by 1999.
While larger companies would have to pay 80 percent of their workers' premiums, House Majority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich., said government subsidies would cut that share to 40 percent for small, low-wage firms.
More than half the uninsured are in households headed by a person who works in a company with fewer than 100 workers, or is self-employed.
Levin said the subsidies for employers would be phased out after four or five years.
Democratic leaders in the House also are considering a compromise on abortion that would allow individuals to decide whether they want abortion coverage in their health-care benefits.
Another possible compromise would exempt religious institutions from having to provide coverage of the procedure for their employees.
Clinton's bill would fully cover abortion, but allow doctors and hospitals to refuse to perform the procedure on moral or ethical grounds.
by CNB