Nancy Kassebaum: “I just visited with Senator Helms to ask him what he thought of the provision before us. He pointed out that his…”

“I just visited with Senator Helms to ask him what he thought of the provision before us. He pointed out that his language is much more narrowly drawn. It applies only to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan and includes some specific criteria. He has some difficulty believing that we should expand it further without understanding more of the ramifications. I, like everyone else, have great sympathy for what Senator Wyden has been wanting to accomplish, and what Congressman Ganske wants to do in the House. I just have to say, however, it may not be as easily done as we would like to believe that it could be. That is all the more reason, I think, that we ought to at least have a hearing in the Senate and take the legislation through the committee. This proposal came to us without advance warning and without benefit of prior discussion in the committee or in the Senate. We are simply not prepared to look at language regarding contractual arrangements in the private sector and make wise decisions about it overnight.”