Don Nickles: “I want to make some statements dealing with health care. There has been a lot of discussion on health care and improving…”

“I want to make some statements dealing with health care. There has been a lot of discussion on health care and improving the quality of health care. Some of our colleagues have introduced legislation dealing with the quality of health care. I think that is important. But I think it is also very important that we actually improve quality, not improve the number of regulations. Today, Mr. President, Americans enjoy the highest quality of health care in the world. In 1993, President Clinton proposed a plan that would have devastated health care quality. It would have limited the amount of health care that Americans could receive by limiting the amount of money, whether private or public, that could be spent on health care services. It would require that everyone have the same one-size-fits-all package of health insurance benefits. And it would have enrolled everyone in managed care plans. Had President Clinton had his way, Americans would now be trapped in a health care system with the efficiency of the post office and the compassion of the IRS at Pentagon prices. The Republicans led the fight against President Clinton's health care plan because we believe Americans deserve the best. We believed it then and we believe it today. Now President Clinton wants to lead an assault on private managed care plans. The man who wanted to put everyone in an HMO now wants the Government to wage war on HMOs. That is a pretty dramatic change.”