Legislators Take Reform Bills To The Media

The US Administration is still hopeful that the health insurance bill passed in the spring will become legislation this year. Despite angry comments on both sides on the Sunday morning television show Meet the Press, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott also hopes for a deal, and talks are continuing on a compromise that would allow a four-year test of incentives to encourage medical savings accounts as an alternative to conventional group insurance.

Both Republicans and Democrats support the reform measures except for the MSAs, and the GOP is running ads that stress areas of agreement between the two. The Administration is pinning its hopes on finding enough middle-of-the-road Republicans for the two sides to meet in the middle on the bill, which is much more modest than that proposed by President Clinton in 1994, and it is thought that he will be under pressure to intercede more personally if this initiative, along with the welfare proposal, are to be salvaged.

Conference Committee On Meet the Press, Sen Lott dismissed proposals by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle to end the impasse. Sen Daschle had challenged him to accept a plan whereby insurance portability would be separated from a proposal to set up tax-exempt MSAs. Noting that the MSA issue could be taken up alone later, he also asked the GOP to consider another compromise proposal on the issue. Replying that both the Senate and the House have already acted on the issue, Sen Lott said that what was needed was a conference committee to work out the differences.