Don Nickles: “I am disappointed that our colleagues on the Democrat side of the aisle really have tried to play politics with this…”

“I am disappointed that our colleagues on the Democrat side of the aisle really have tried to play politics with this issue. Many of us were very, very serious about trying to pass a positive bill that dealt with HMO organizations, with health care. We studied the issue for a long time. Senator Daschle said after they realized the polls, they introduced the bill in July. We worked 7 or 8 months trying to put a bill together that would be a responsible, positive bill to meet certain objectives. One, not increase the number of people in the uninsured category. Unfortunately, I think that would have happened under the Kennedy bill. It would have dramatically increased the cost of insurance and, therefore, dramatically increase the number of people who are uninsured. We said, What can we do that would be a positive impact on helping people have affordable health care and maybe provide some coverage and protections for those people who don't have it from their States, and so we put together a package to do that. We didn't come up and say, hey, trial lawyers, what would you like? Under the Democrats' bill, really, it was a bill that would greatly enhance attorney fees. It gave people the right not only to sue the HMO and the health care provider, but also the employer as well. The net result is that lots of employers would have dropped plans, increased the number of uninsured. That would not have helped anybody. It would have been a serious mistake.”