Political Quotes

“let me make an important point about this bill. It is very narrow in scope, addressing portability and health coverage for preexisting conditions. It in no way resembles the expansive Clinton health care proposal this body defeated 2 years ago. In the summer of 1994, many hundreds of Washington state citizens gathered in Westlake Mall in downtown Seattle to protest the proposed Government takeover of their health care. They were outraged by the hubris and the arrogance of that health care plan, and rightly so. The plan focused on setting up new bureaucracies, that it completely ignored the people who would have been affected by it. This legislation takes a clear-headed approach, responding to one problem that people face regarding preexisting conditions. It follows the conclusions of the Senate health care task force, of which I am pleased to have been a member for several years. We came up with the lessons learned from the Clinton health care debacle, and topping the list was the fact that there simply cannot be a government-run health care system. Period. The only sane, responsible way to address particular problems that may arise is to take a very narrow, targeted approach. In other words, you don't solve a problem with grandiose, wholly unworkable schemes. You solve a problem with a commensurate response. In this case, we have the problem of coverage for preexisting conditions. The goals of this bill are strickly defined and few.…”