Page Tiwanak, Eugene, St. Francis Hospital___ Tsushima, William T., Hawaii Psychological Association. United Public Workers, AFSCME, Henry Epstein Walker, Arthur L., III, Hawaii Psychological Association__. 373 320 174 312 Walters, Larry, Welfare Recipient Advisory Council.. 369 Webster, Edward B., American Association of Retired Persons. 355 Welfare Recipient Advisory Council, Larry Walters_-_ 369 Willcox, Robert, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program. 161 Yuen, Albert H., Hawaii Medical Service Association___ 154 Yuen, George, on behalf of Governor George R. Ariyoshi, State of Hawaii... 132 MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Miami hearing: South Florida Hospital Association, Alfred F. Popoli, statement_____ Honolulu hearing: 121 American Chiropractic Association: R. J. Parker, D.C., letter 375 Kwanlin L. K. Wong, D.C., statement 376 Hawaii Psychological Association, Jerome I. Boyar, statement_ 329 331 326 NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1980 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Miami, Fla. The subcommittee met at 9 a.m., pursuant to notice, in the hearing room, Dade County Courthouse, Hon. Charles B. Rangel (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. [Press release announcing the hearing follows:] [Press release of Mar. 4, 1980] HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL (N.Y.), CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH, COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, ANNOUNCES FURTHER DETAILS ON PUBLIC HEARINGS ON HEALTH INSURANCE AND PROPOSALS TO RESTRUCTURE INCENTIVES IN THE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE SECTOR TO BE HELD IN MIAMI, FLA., ON FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1980 Chairman Charles Rangel of the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Ways and Means today announced details of the Subcommittee's planned hearing on health insurance proposals to be conducted in Miami. The hearing will focus on the health insurance proposals presently before the Congress and issues directly related to them. The hearing will be held in Miami on March 21 and will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the Dade County Commission Chambers at 73 West Flagler Street. In view of the heavy schedule of the Subcommittee and the limited time available for the taking of testimony, it will be necessary to allocate the time available to each witness for the presentation of direct oral testimony. Witnesses' more detailed written testimony will be accepted for the Record. Furthermore, if requests to be heard exceed the amount of time available to the Subcommittee, witnesses will be scheduled in such a manner as to allow for the expression of the widest range of viewpoints within the community. If several witnesses wish to present similar testimony, they may be asked to select one spokesman for the group or have their testimony consolidated in some other way. DETAILS OF SUBMISSION OF REQUESTS TO BE HEARD Cutoff date for requests to be heard.-Requests to be heard must be submitted no later than the close of business Friday, March 14, 1980. All requests should be submitted in writing to John M. Martin, Jr., Chief Counsel, Committee on Ways and Means, Room 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515 (telephone: 202-225-3625). Notification will be made as promptly as possible after the cutoff date, usually by telephone, as to the scheduled appearance of each witness. If a witness finds that he cannot appear on that day, he may file a written statement for the record of the hearing. Written statements in lieu of personal appearance.-The Subcommittee will be pleased to receive from any interested organization or person a written statement for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing in lieu of a personal appearance. These statements will be given the same full consideration as though the statement had been presented in person. In such cases, a minimum of three copies of the statement should be submitted by May 16, 1980. Contents of requests to be heard.-The request to be heard must contain the following information: (1) The name, address, telephone number, and capacity in which the witness will appear; and (2) A topical outline or summary of the comments and recommendations which the witness proposes to make. All witnesses are requested to bring at least 10 copies of their testimony with them to the hearing. Additional copies may be furnished by witneses for distribution to the press and the interested public on the date of appearance. Mr. RANGEL. The Health Subcommittee of the House Committee on Ways and Means will come to order. We have from Hawaii our committee member, Congressman Cecil Heftel; and, of course, we are here because of the interest and cooperation of whom we call "Senator," your Congressman, Claude Pepper. Today marks an important occasion in the Health Subcommittee's hearings on the issue of national health insurance; it is not just that this is the first of several hearings we plan to hold on this subject, but also it is important that it gives me an opportunity to join with my friend and distinguished colleague, Senator Pepper, in exploring the problems and possibilities for developing a legislative comprehensive health program that can be passed by this Congress. Senator Pepper, for many of us, is a legislative saint of enlightened, progressive social legislation. More than anyone else in the Congress, he has been our conscience and our inspiration. To join with him in a hearing on the important and crucial issue of national health insurance, of course, is an experience for all of us. We have sponsored legislation that is slightly different in detail— by degree they are minor in detail and we have worked during months and years to get a plan which we could bring to the House floor. Senator Pepper and I agree that every American should have equal access to good health care and to get that care without fear of bankruptcy or loss of dignity or discrimination. We agree that health care is a universal human need and our country cannot defer serving this need. For that reason, Senator Pepper and I have in the past, and will continue in the future, to join in a common endeavor to work for the enactment of a health insurance program that assures every American who needs health care to be able to receive it. In the present climate, many people within the Congress are looking for ways to control inflation through balanced budgets and reduced Federal expenditures. While that is a reality we will all have to deal with, I don't believe that necessarily means we cannot make progress toward the development of a meaningful health insurance plan. I don't believe any one wants to balance the budget on the backs of the aged and the poor and those who are sick and in need of health care. What we will have to do, however, is make certain that we are addressing really critical health-care problems in our plan, that we design a plan that could assure access for care to everyone on a cost effective basis at a price we can all afford to pay. That is the task that we have before us. We know that in different parts of our great country there are many different types of problems that we face. We know about the hospital crisis which this subcommittee is exploring, and especially in the urban communities, both public hospitals and private hospitals. For purposes of making a statement, I yield to my distinguished friend and colleague, and, again as I pointed out, the leader is providing sound health care for the people of our country, Senator Claude Pepper. STATEMENT OF HON. CLAUDE PEPPER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA Mr. PEPPER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. First, on behalf of our Dade County community and the territory round about, I wish to extend a most cordial welcome to you and Mr. Heftel, your distinguished colleague, and to tell you how much it means to us to have people in your position, your powerful position in the Congress, striving to provide for all of the people of this country an opportunity to get the health care that our system provides for those who are able to pay for it. What we are trying to work out is some means by which those who can pay will pay what they can; a system under which our people will neither have to be in the demeaning position of a welfare patient nor have to be rich in order to get the health care that they are entitled to receive in this great enlightened country of ours. Mr. Rangel has on all fronts been a great champion of the cause of the health of the people. For example, working in conjunction with our House Select Committee on Aging, Mr. Rangel's subcommittee, and then later, upon its recommendation, the full Committee on Ways and Means-as you know, one of the most powerful committees of the House has reported out some changes that are recommended in medicare. For example, the first bill, H.R. 3990, eliminates the requirement that you have to have been in a hospital for 3 days before you can get home health care. It eliminates the limitation on the number of visits that a person receiving home health care may receive and eliminates the $60 deductible that a person has to pay under the present law in order to get home health care under part B. Finally, moving toward the recognition of other promising means of providing adequate medical care to the people, the second bill H.R. 4000, encourages the use of health maintenance organizations-HMO's-by the elderly. The committee reported legislation, which I hope will be adopted by the House in the near future, provides that the medicare authorities may prospectively pay up to 95 percent of the cost that is ordinarily incurred by medicare patients to an HMO in a contractual arrangement if the HMO provides comprehensive health care for the people. These are just a few of the many forward-looking things that Mr. Rangel's Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health has done already in the Congress of the United States. Mr. Rangel's being a distinguished representative of the city of New York, reminds me that the first man who ever presented to the Congress anything like a national health insurance program was Senator Robert Wagner of New York. I remember in the latter part of 1938 he came up with the first proposal that related national health insurance or the provision of health care for people to a social security ap |