Political Quotes

“I have always believed health care policy needs to be bipartisan, and needs to be ideas driven. So as we talk about health care, I come to the floor to mention an idea our colleague Senator Kerry has talked about which I think is especially promising for small business. The reality is, a very high percentage of the uninsured work in small businesses. These small businesses are dying to cover their people. The owners of those small businesses do not get up in the morning and say: We want to be rotten to our workers in not giving coverage. They are dying to figure out ways to help their small businesses. Senator Kerry has come up with an idea that I think is really innovative. He has said, given the fact resources are scarce, that dollars for trying to address the uninsured, the needs of our small businesses, are restricted, we ought to target those dollars where they are needed the most. He has proposed the Federal Government, with respect to small business, concentrate on instances where there are very large bills, bills above $50,000. He would have the Federal Government step in and pick up about 75 percent of those costs. The premiums that would be charged employers and their workers could be trimmed about 10 percent in this fashion. We know it has been documented that those who are particularly in need of assistance when they face these very high bills are a very large proportion of the health care costs in America.”