Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993 TAG: 9310140162
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Gramm, R-Texas, and a handful of other GOP lawmakers said their bill - unlike President Clinton's plan - relies on the free market to fix the health care system and would keep government involvement to a minimum.
White House spokesman Kevin Anderson called the Gramm alternative "the same old garbage from the guardians of the status quo. . . . There's no health security. There's no cost controls. It doesn't fix anything."
Gramm said the regional alliances Clinton has proposed to purchase health insurance amount to "socialized medicine."
He said Clinton is asking people to believe the government, better than the private sector, could cut paperwork, red tape and waste.
Under Gramm's plan, employers, in order to keep their tax-free status on health premiums, would have to offer a "Medical Savings Account" program. Employer and employee contributions would finance a catastrophic health insurance policy that would cover any medical services above a $3,000 annual deductible.
Employees could withdraw unspent contributions at year's end. Self-employed workers could deduct 100 percent of their payments.
A high-risk pool would be created for people with pre-existing conditions who now can't buy insurance. The government would pay part of their costs, at a price of about $4 billion a year.
People who make enough money to buy insurance, but don't, could have their wages garnisheed for up to seven years if they suffered a serious illness or injury and society got stuck with the tab.
Gramm's plan would give low-income workers who make up to 200 percent of the poverty level tax credits to help them buy insurance. That would cost about $30 billion a year by the fifth year, or 1999.
Overall, the plan would cost about $144 billion over five years, but would make back $190 billion - largely through Medicaid and Medicare savings - and contribute $46 billion toward deficit reduction, according to its sponsors. - Associated Press
by CNB