Letter to Congressional Leaders on Proposed Health Care Reform Legislation

Dear Gentlemen:

The "Health Security Act of 1993" holds the promise of a new era of security for every American—an era in which our nation finally guarantees its citizens comprehensive health care benefits that can never be taken away.

Today, America boasts the world's best health care professionals, the finest medical schools and hospitals, the most advanced research and the most sophisticated technology. No other health care system in the world exceeds ours in the level of scientific knowledge, skill and technical resources.

And yet the American health care system is badly broken. Its hallmarks are insecurity and dangerously rising costs.

For most Americans the fear of losing health benefits at some time has become very real. Our current health insurance system offers no protection for people who lose their jobs, move, decide to change jobs, get sick, or have a family member with an illness. One out of four Americans is expected to lose insurance coverage in the next two years, many never to be protected again. Altogether, more than 37 million Americans have no insurance and another 25 million have inadequate health coverage.

Rising health care costs are threatening our standard of living. The average American worker would be making $1,000 a year more today if health care accounted for the same proportion of wages and benefits as in 1975. Unless we act, health care costs will lower real wages by almost $600 per year by the end of the decade and nearly one in every five dollars Americans spend will go to health care.

Small businesses create most of the new jobs in America and while most want to cover their employees, more and more cannot. Under the current health care system, cost pressures are forcing a growing number of small business owners to scale back or drop health insurance for their employees. Small businesses spend 40 cents of every health insurance dollar for administration—eight times as much as large companies. And only one in every three companies with fewer than 500 workers today offers its employees a choice of health plan.

Our health care system frustrates those who deliver care. Doctors and nurses are drowning in paperwork, and hospitals are hiring administrators at four times the rate of health care professionals. The system places decisions that doctors should be making in the hands of distant bureaucrats. Its incentives are upside down; it focuses on treating people only after they get sick, and does not reward prevention.

Clearly, our challenges are great. This legislation is sweeping in its ambition and simple in its intent: to preserve and strengthen what is right about our health care system, and fix what is wrong.

Our needs are now urgent. A nation blessed with so much should not leave so many without health security.

This legislation draws upon history. It reflects the best ideas distilled from decades of debate and experience.

It reflects the sense of responsibility that President Franklin Roosevelt called for when he launched the Social Security program in 1933 and recommended that health care be included.

It reflects the vision of President Harry Truman, who in 1946 became the first President to introduce a plan for national health reform.

It reflects the pragmatism of President Richard Nixon, who in 1972 asked all American employers to take responsibility and contribute to their workers' health care.

And it reflects the ideas and commitment of generations of Congressional leaders who have fought to build a health care system that honors our nation's commitments to all its citizens.

Today America stands ready for reform. For the first time, members of both parties have agreed that every American must be guaranteed health care. An opportunity has been placed before us. We must not let it pass us by.

This legislation builds on what's best about the American health care system. It maintains and strengthens America's private health care. It extends the current system of employer-based coverage that works so well for so many. It protects our cherished right to choose how we are cared for and who provides that care. It invests in improving the quality of our care.

This legislation recognizes that America cannot, and need not, adopt one model of health care reform. It allows each state to tailor health reform to its unique needs and characteristics, as long as it meets national guarantees for comprehensive benefits, affordability and quality standards. It establishes a national framework for reform, but leaves the decisions about care where they belong—between patients and the health care professionals they trust.

Under this legislation, every citizen and legal resident will receive a Health Security card that guarantees the comprehensive benefits package. People will be able to follow their doctor into a traditional fee-for-service plan, join a network of doctors and hospitals, or become members of a Health Maintenance Organization. Like today, almost everyone will be able to sign up for a health plan where they work. Unlike today, changes in employment or family status will not necessarily force a change in health coverage.

The self-employed and the unemployed will receive their health coverage through the regional health alliance, a group run by consumers and business leaders, that will contract with and pay health plans, provide information to help consumers choose plans, and collect premiums. The largest corporations—those employing 5,000 workers or more—will have the option of continuing to self-insure their employees or joining a regional alliance.

The legislation is financed by three sources: requiring every employer and individual to contribute to paying the cost of health care; raising excise taxes on tobacco and requiring small contributions from large corporations which form their own health alliance; and slowing the growth in spending on federal health care programs. Enormous efforts have been made to ensure that the financing is sound and responsible.

The Health Security Act is based upon six principles: security, simplicity, savings, quality, choice and responsibility.

Security. First and foremost, this legislation guarantees security by providing every American and legal resident with a comprehensive package of health care benefits that can never be taken away. That package of benefits, defined by law, includes a new emphasis on preventive care and offers all Americans prescription drug benefits.

Under this legislation, insurers will no longer be able to deny anyone coverage, impose lifetime limits, or charge people based on their health status or age. The legislation also limits annual increases in health care premiums, and sets maximum amounts that families will spend out-of-pocket each year, regardless of how much or how often they receive medical care.

The legislation will preserve and strengthen Medicare, adding new coverage for prescription drugs. To meet the growing needs of older Americans and people with disabilities, a new long-term care initiative will expand coverage of home and community-based care.

The legislation also provides residents of underserved rural and urban areas with better access to quality care. It also offers incentives for health professionals to practice in these areas, builds urban-rural health care networks, and protects those doctors, hospitals, clinics and others who care for people in underserved areas.

Simplicity. To relieve consumers, business and health professionals of the burdens of excess paperwork and bureaucracy, this legislation simplifies our health care system. It requires all health plans to adopt a standard claim form; creates a uniform, comprehensive benefits package; and standardizes billing and coding procedures.

Savings. The legislation promotes true competition in the health care marketplace. It increases the buying power of consumers and businesses by bringing them together in health alliances. Health plans will no longer succeed by trying to pick only healthy people to insure; they will have to compete on price and quality. This competition will be backed up by enforceable premium caps.

This legislation also criminalizes health fraud, imposing stiff penalties on those who cheat the system. And it takes steps to reduce "defensive medicine" and discourage frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits by requiring patients and doctors to try to settle disputes before they end up in court, and by limiting lawyers' fees.

Quality. The legislation empowers consumers and health care professionals by providing information on quality standards and treatment results. It calls for new investments in medical research, including heart disease, bone and joint disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, AIDS, birth defects, mental disorders, substance abuse and nutrition. To help keep people healthy, rather than only treating them after they get sick, the legislation pays fully for a wide range of preventive services and offers new incentives to educate primary care doctors, nurses and other family practitioners.

Choice. Through comprehensive reform, the legislation gives Americans a new level of control over their health care choices. It ensures that people can follow their doctor and his or her team into any plan they choose to join. It transfers the choice of health plan from the employer to the individual, and guarantees a choice of health plans, including at least one traditional fee-for-service plan. Doctors and health professionals may participate in multiple health plans if they wish.

Responsibility. Under this legislation, every employer and individual will be required to pay for health coverage, even if that contribution is small. It extends the current employer-based system for financing health coverage—a system that now serves nine of every ten Americans who now have health insurance. To ensure affordability, small businesses, low-wage employers and low-income individuals and families will get substantial discounts.

This legislation will strengthen our economy. Our current system is so much more costly than any other system in the world, and the American people should not be asked to pay huge new taxes in order to afford health care reform. This plan raises no new broad-based taxes, but spends our health care dollars more wisely. It levels the playing field for small businesses, making it possible for them to insure their families and employees. It eases the tremendous burden of rising health costs on big business, helping them to compete for global markets. And by bringing the explosive growth in health costs under control, it sets us in the right direction of reducing our national debt.

The legislation restores common sense to American health care. It borrows from what works today, letting us phase in change at a reasonable pace and adjust our course if needed. It builds on what works best—and makes it work for everyone. Our task now is to work together, to leave behind decades of false starts and agree on health care reform that guarantees true security. The time for action is now. I urge the prompt and favorable consideration of this legislative proposal by the Congress.

Sincerely,

BILL CLINTON