Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 30, 1993 TAG: 9303300204
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
In the first public meeting of the White House Task Force on national Health Care Reform, Vice President Al Gore, chairman of the meeting, said short-term cost controls are necessary to put a lid on the cost of insurance premiums, making it easier for businesses to furnish workers with health coverage under a government mandate.
His comments came during a spirited debate with Stephen Elmont, vice president of the National Restaurant Association, who warned that many small businesses could not afford to provide health coverage.
"That's why cost controls . . . represent such an important part of reform," Gore replied.
Over the course of the 13-hour hearing, many witnesses warned of major practical problems in the changes contemplated by the administration. But their advice amounted to a crazy-quilt patchwork of conflicting ideas, a jumble that highlights the difficulty of changing the way Americans receive their health care.
The chairman of the American Medical Association, Dr. Raymond Scalettar, supported President Clinton's plan to require employers to provide basic health benefits for workers, but he called price controls unwarranted and unworkable.
Other elements of the proposed reform package disclosed Monday included plans to provide coverage for long-term care and to give nurses and physician-assistants greater roles in health care as a way to hold down costs.
To improve services to the underprivileged and others, the task force is exploring ways to eliminate Medicaid altogether, perhaps by gradually covering indigent persons under the same large health-care co-ops contemplated for much of the general population.
Nursing-home executives urged greater use of private insurance to pay for long-term care. But the American Association of Retired Persons warned that "a system based on private insurance will increase total costs and leave millions uncovered."
A government mandate to provide health coverage would cost small businesses at least $40 billion, according to Margaret Smith of National Small Business United.
Many small businesses, such as restaurants, would be forced out of business, witnesses said.
As an alternative, Gary F. Petty of the Small Business Legislative Council urged the administration to institute a wage-and-price freeze on health-care providers.
But G. Kirk Raab, president and CEO of Genentech Inc., a pioneering California-based high-tech firm, warned that such controls would "strangle investment" in the biotechnology industry.
by CNB