Preliminary Costs Of US reform Campaign

Preliminary US general Accounting Office figures put the White House costs for last year's health care reform campaign at at least $9.6 million, but the agency cannot finish its calculations because the administration and other executive offices have not given it complete information.

Last year, White House aide Patsy Thomasson told a House Appropriations committee that the 12-member task force headed by Hillary Clinton cost taxpayers only $211,000, but she has now said that while the White House cooperated with the GAO audit, it responded only in the narrow scope defined. Also, she said, the original expenses estimate was for administrative costs only, and took no account of costs linked to the 628-member working group. While complete costs may be hard to determine, she pledged continued cooperation from the White House.

By 2000, "20% of Americans Will Be uninsured" Meantime, economist William Custer has told the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee that health care costs will continue to rise even as personal income increases, so that fewer employees will offer their workers health insurance. This means, he said, that within five years 50 million people under 65 will have no coverage. By the year 2000, some 20% of Americans will be uninsured unless the health care system is reformed, he noted. About 41 million or 18% of the workforce now has no insurance. Senator Christopher Dodd said a GAO report had shown that children of the working poor are most likely to suffer from lack of coverage; it found that 89% of children without cover have at least one working parent.