Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 22, 1994 TAG: 9401220201
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The legislation - which Payne will co-sponsor with Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn. - will cost less than Clinton's proposal and create less federal bureaucracy, Payne told about 200 local governing officials and school board members meeting at the Richmond Marriott.
But unlike the Clinton plan, it will not guarantee coverage to each of the 37 million Americans - and 1 million Virginians - who now lack health insurance.
Speaking to a joint conference of the Virginia Municipal League, Virginia Association of Counties and the Virginia School Boards Association, Payne said Congress must pass some form of health-care reform legislation this year.
"But I cannot support the President's health-care package," he said.
Clinton's plan to restructure the nation's health-care system, presented to Congress last fall, would establish networks of doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies that would function like low-cost health maintenance organizations. It would require every working American to buy health insurance - with employers picking up 80 percent of the cost - and would provide subsidized health care for those who can't afford to purchase their own.
Payne said Clinton's plan borrowed heavily from the Cooper bill, which was initially introduced in 1992. Clinton endorsed that bill during his presidential candidacy, then asked Cooper and his supporters to withdraw it after he was elected so that he could develop a comprehensive plan of his own.
But Clinton threw in many extras that Payne and others in Congress could not live with, the Nelson County Democrat said. So Cooper will reintroduce his bill this year with support from a bipartisan group of 60 members of the House of Representatives. A similar bill will be introduced in the Senate.
"I don't think anything will pass as written," Payne, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which will handle insurance reform, conceded after his 30-minute speech. But he hopes to work with others in Congress to push through a compromise version of the Cooper plan that could include additional reforms.
Payne's address Friday marks the beginning of a nationwide campaign to garner public support for the Cooper plan, which he feels takes fewer economic risks than the Clinton reform package.
Both plans would protect people who get sick or change jobs from losing their health insurance. Both would create standardized claim forms and would rely on regional alliances of health care providers to lower the cost of care, he said.
But the two plans also differ in several significant ways, Payne said. Notably:
The Clinton plan creates a National Health Board to monitor the state-run health alliances. Under the Cooper bill, the federal government determines eligibility for participation in health alliances and defines standard health benefits but plays no further oversight role.
The Clinton plan requires employers - including small businesses - to pay the brunt of health-care costs for their workers. The Cooper bill does not.
If the Clinton plan failed to lower costs through competition, it would freeze the rise in insurance premiums at the growth rate of the economy. The Cooper bill places no caps on the rise in insurance rates. Payne said the Cooper plan would be much cheaper than Clinton's, but he could not provide cost comparisons Friday.
The Cooper bill would also provide additional scholarship money for medical students who agree to practice as primary-care physicians in rural and inner city areas, Payne said. Many states, including Virginia, find it difficult to recruit general-care physicians for these poorly served areas.
Payne applauded Virginia medical schools for being the first in the nation to promise to produce more primary-care doctors, who are the cornerstone of reform plans like Clinton's and Cooper's because they are less expensive to visit than specialists.
by CNB