Just a quick History lesson for those Affordable care Act Haters out there!!!! President Bill Clinton took on an ill-fated effort to reform health care in 1993. As the president’s task force (led by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton) worked behind closed doors to craft solutions to ever-rising health care costs and a growing number of uninsured families, Republicans scrambled to forge an alternative. Republican Sen. John Chafee of Rhode Island was the point man. The bill he introduced, Health Equity and Access Reform Today, (yes, that spells HEART) had a list of 20 co-sponsors that was a who’s who of Republican leadership. There was Minority Leader Bob Dole, R- Kan., Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Lugar, R-Ind., and many others. There also were two Democratic co-sponsors. Among other features, the Chafee bill included: An individual mandate; Creation of purchasing pools; Standardized benefits; Vouchers for the poor to buy insurance; A ban on denying coverage based on a pre-existing condition. You would find a great deal of similarity to provisions in the Affordable Care Act, Sheila Burke, Dole’s chief of staff in 1993, told PunditFact via email. The guys were way ahead of the times!! Different crowd, different time, suffice it to say.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:47:14 +0000
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