Political Quotes

“HIPAA, HIPAA, Hurray. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the short title of H.R. 3103 for which we now consider a conference report. Hurray. We finally have some health care reform. I say ``some,'' because we still have a long way to go, but in this week of the 1996 summer Olympics, we at least have gotten out of the starting blocks to provide improved access to health case financing for more Americans. The portability provisions agreed upon in this conference report of H.R. 3103, will allow people who lose or change jobs to continue their health insurance coverage. Now, even with some preexisting condition, health insurance plans can only limit for so long a person's waiting period before treatment for a preexisting condition could be covered-- and, no longer can pregnancy, birth, and adoption be considered prohibitions to immediate coverage. These are good steps toward universal access and health insurance coverage for all Americans, which I have long advocated. It looks like we finally have some relief from the special interests that control the health care delivery and financing system in this country that left over 37 million American uninsured for health care.”