PANEL OKS `PLAY-OR-PAY' HEALTH PLAN SENATE DEMOCRATS OPEN ELECTION-YEAR

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 23, 1992                   TAG: 9201230241
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
PANEL OKS `PLAY-OR-PAY' HEALTH PLAN SENATE DEMOCRATS OPEN ELECTION-YEAR
Senate Democrats fired their first major salvo Wednesday in the election-year battle over the health-care issue as the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee gave initial approval to sweeping "play-or-pay" legislation designed to extend medical insurance to all Americans.
The bill, one of three major health-care proposals that Democrats are considering this year, would require employers either to provide health insurance for all their workers or to pay higher payroll taxes to help finance alternative federal medical insurance for them.
The plan, approved on a party-line vote in the face of a last-minute veto threat from the Bush administration, was designed to serve as a Democratic rallying-point in the competition to enact health-care legislation this year, possibly before the election.
Health care has become a major issue in the 1992 presidential and congressional campaigns as health insurance costs have soared and layoffs have mounted, leaving workers without medical coverage. Some 35 million Americans have no medical insurance at all.
But the "play-or-pay" legislation is being vigorously opposed by small business, and may well be sidetracked by the Senate Finance Committee, which has a rival plan of its own.
And President Bush is scheduled to unveil his own health-care plan in his State of the Union address Tuesday, but the White House proposal is expected to be far less comprehensive, calling primarily for incremental changes in the current health-care system.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the Labor panel's chairman, called the bill "another milestone on the road to affordable and accessible health care to all our citizens," and a "benchmark" by which to judge the administration's health-care proposals.
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, himself a co-sponsor of the committee's proposal, also hailed the panel's action, and reiterated that he plans to make enactment of health-care legislation a primary objective in this session of Congress.
Besides the "play-or-pay" approach, Democrats also are considering legislation that would extend Medicare benefits to all Americans, along with a third approach that would create a federal medical-care system similar to the one used in Canada.
Senate Republicans have offered their own alternative, designed to expand health insurance coverage by providing tax incentives - both for business and individuals - to help them finance costly premiums, but they do not have enough votes to push it through.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB