Clinton Signs A Modest Health Care Reform

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Aug. 21) -- President Bill Clinton signed legislation today making it easier for Americans to get and keep health insurance.

The bipartisan insurance bill, sponsored by Senators Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), passed both houses of Congress with only two dissenting votes in the House. [Kassebaum]

Clinton, speaking from the South Lawn of the White House, called it a "profoundly important" measure, but it falls far short of Clinton's 1994 promise to accept nothing less than universal coverage.

The measure makes insured workers eligible to keep their insurance if they leave their jobs, and effectively eliminates insurers' practice of denying coverage to those with "pre-existing conditions." It also sets up a trial program of tax-sheltered medical savings accounts for employees of small businesses, the self-employed, and the uninsured.

Critics say the limited approach of the new law does nothing for the 40 million people who can't afford to buy insurance.

"It may guarantee you the chance to get insurance," said Jeff Kirsch of Families USA, "but it may not guarantee you insurance at an affordable price."

White House spokesman Mike McCurry said the president believes that "there is more that must be done."

"The Kassebaum-Kennedy measure, by expanding portability, by really instituting some controls and some new procedures on health care administrative costs, does take a very important incremental step," said McCurry.

McCurry said that further reforms in the health care system would be "a very important part" of Clinton's agenda for a second term in the White House. The president will detail specifics of that agenda next week when he accepts the Democratic nomination in Chicago.

Clinton promised health care reform during his 1992 campaign, but his 1994 drive for changes that would have included universal coverage for all Americans collapsed in the face of political and industry opposition.

It was the second bill signing in as many days. The president signed a bill Tuesday hiking the minimum wage 90 cents an hour, phased in over two years. On Thursday, he plans to sign a sweeping welfare reform bill that will end open-ended, guaranteed assistance.

Clinton Signs A Modest Health Care Reform

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