Arlen Specter: “the start of the 105th Congress gives those of us in the Senate and the House a new opportunity to make a real…”

“the start of the 105th Congress gives those of us in the Senate and the House a new opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of the American people. It is a chance for us to learn from the past concerning how to best respond to the challenges that are before us and forge important alliances to enable us to pass legislation that is important to the American people. One of our first priorities must be additional reforms of our Nation's health care system. In the 104th Congress, I was pleased to cosponsor the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, better known as the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill (S. 1028). There is no question that Kassebaum-Kennedy made significant steps forward in addressing troubling issues in health care. The bill's incremental approach to health care reform is what allowed it to generate consensus support in the Senate; we knew that it did not address every single problem in the health care delivery system, but it would make life better for millions of American men, women, and children. There is much more that needs to be done. Accordingly, today I am introducing the Health Care Assurance Act of 1997, which, if enacted, will take us further down the path of incremental reforms started by Kassebaum-Kennedy.”