Bob Kerrey: “I rise to support the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill, S. 1028. I believe it is a long-overdue change. As the Senator from Rhode…”

“I rise to support the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill, S. 1028. I believe it is a long-overdue change. As the Senator from Rhode Island and others have said already, it is regarded by some as very incremental. I regard it as one of those very important pieces of legislation. Earlier, we enacted a piece of legislation, ironically, that Senator Kassebaum actually took the lead on last year, which consolidated the job training programs and gave the States a lot more flexibility in designing their own programs. I said at the time that I thought this law was the second most important thing we could take up this year because we know, with certainty, that it is going to effect some 20 million people. It does not cost the taxpayers any money. It does make a change of the law, the Federal law and will alter the way the market works. But it is not the first time that we have interfered with the health care market. One of the most expensive interferences that we have with the health care market is that we allow health insurance to be deducted with offsets against FICA by employers, as well. It is a very important deduction, but it also must be seen by citizens as an interference with the market because it is for upper income people in particular. For people like myself, if I am buying private health insurance, it provides me with a substantial subsidy. It has been a very important way to allow people who otherwise would not be able to purchase health insurance to buy it.”