Nation S Health

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton will unveil his ambitious plan to overhaul the nation's health care system tonight before a Congress that seems eager to act on the issue but deeply divided over how far to go.Rep. Vic Fazio of California, a Democratic leader, echoed the uncertainty of many in both political parties who consider Mr. Clinton's top-to-bottom reform plan an enormous political gamble."There is a general assumption that we are going to do something, but a lot of the optimism about the president's program I think is unwarranted," said Mr. Fazio, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

America's liberals have gone from swooning over Barack Obama's ascension to the White House and gloating over their Bush-induced domination of Congress to near-hysteria because ordinary middle-class Americans are rising in anger against the Democrats' planned hijacking of the nation's health care system. MSNBC's Chris Matthews worked himself into his characteristic spittle-laced frenzy while sputtering about the legions of protestors showing up to make meetings designed to sell Obamacare into "Town Hell" occasions.

The American Medical Association has endorsed reforming the nation's health care system to guarantee health care for everyone. The AMA suggested that government and business working together might supply health insurance for all. What do you think? Should there be guaranteed health care for everyone in the U.S.?The call is local and must be made from a touch-tone phone. The SUNDIAL number is 783-1800 or, in Anne Arundel County, 268-7736. When you reach SUNDIAL enter category 4600 and wait for instructions from the announcer.

IS ANYBODY out there concerned about where health care is headed?Advice: You should be more than merely concerned. You should be scared. You should also be angry. No, furious.Let's dispense with I told you so, although the inevitable should have been clear from the start.Health care in the marketplace? The market dictates bottom-line considerations even as they clash with quality, access, etc. In the marketplace, poorer Americans are excluded and neglected by the millions, now approaching 50 million.

WASHINGTON -- It is possible to date precisely when health care reform made the critical transformation from public preoccupation to political priority: Nov. 5, 1991.That was the day Harris Wofford, an old-style liberal Democrat, got his marching orders from voters in Pennsylvania to deliver a message to Washington. The message in his own words: "We have a health crisis that is bankrupting workers, families, our companies, our whole economy."So clearly was it delivered by Mr. Wofford's upset U.S. Senate victory over high-profile Republican Richard L. Thornburgh, former U.S. attorney general and Pennsylvania governor, that President Bush took immediate notice and ordered his experts to produce a health care reform package.

WASHINGTON -- The election of Bill Clinton has propelled Maryland Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin into the front line of debate over health care reform, an issue on which he is well-positioned and eager to play a role.For the past two years the Baltimore Democrat pushed a bill to control costs and guarantee universal medical coverage, only to see it ignored in a government in gridlock led by a hostile Republican president.But now Mr. Cardin, a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and its subcommittee on health, finds himself working with a Democratic administration determined to reform the nation's health care system.

MILLIONS of working Americans now covered by employer-provided health insurance policies will be able to change jobs without losing coverage even if they or members of their families have continuing medical problems. In addition, the self-employed will get tax deductions of up to 80 percent on the cost of their health insurance premiums and tax breaks will be offered on long-term care coverage.These reforms, part of a pre-convention burst of legislation on Capitol Hill, are often described as modest, realistic, incremental.

WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders denounced the Democratic approach to health reform last night in a nationally televised policy forum amid an intense behind-the-scenes debate over what strategy the GOP should pursue on the issue that now dominates the national political landscape.The hourlong program, carried live by C-Span and various satellite hookups, was heralded as an attempt to show Americans that the GOP has its own solution to the nation's health care problems.Most of the time was spent depicting what the Republicans say the nation has to fear from the remedies proposed by President Clinton and congressional Democrats.

IS ANYBODY out there concerned about where health care is headed?Advice: You should be more than merely concerned. You should be scared. You should also be angry. No, furious.Let's dispense with I told you so, although the inevitable should have been clear from the start.Health care in the marketplace? The market dictates bottom-line considerations even as they clash with quality, access, etc. In the marketplace, poorer Americans are excluded and neglected by the millions, now approaching 50 million.

WASHINGTON -- Tomorrow night, President Clinton will explain why he believes it is necessary to reform the nation's health care delivery system -- a massive overhaul of one-seventh of the nation's economy.His aides have already asserted that this initiative is the "defining issue" of the Clinton presidency, but he indicated yesterday that in his mind the stakes are even higher:The nation is at an historic "magic moment" in which the battle over health care will reveal whether the United States has the will to confront its deepest problems, asserted the president, flanked by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, as he met with influential physicians.

MILLIONS of working Americans now covered by employer-provided health insurance policies will be able to change jobs without losing coverage even if they or members of their families have continuing medical problems. In addition, the self-employed will get tax deductions of up to 80 percent on the cost of their health insurance premiums and tax breaks will be offered on long-term care coverage.These reforms, part of a pre-convention burst of legislation on Capitol Hill, are often described as modest, realistic, incremental.

WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders denounced the Democratic approach to health reform last night in a nationally televised policy forum amid an intense behind-the-scenes debate over what strategy the GOP should pursue on the issue that now dominates the national political landscape.The hourlong program, carried live by C-Span and various satellite hookups, was heralded as an attempt to show Americans that the GOP has its own solution to the nation's health care problems.Most of the time was spent depicting what the Republicans say the nation has to fear from the remedies proposed by President Clinton and congressional Democrats.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton will unveil his ambitious plan to overhaul the nation's health care system tonight before a Congress that seems eager to act on the issue but deeply divided over how far to go.Rep. Vic Fazio of California, a Democratic leader, echoed the uncertainty of many in both political parties who consider Mr. Clinton's top-to-bottom reform plan an enormous political gamble."There is a general assumption that we are going to do something, but a lot of the optimism about the president's program I think is unwarranted," said Mr. Fazio, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

WASHINGTON -- Tomorrow night, President Clinton will explain why he believes it is necessary to reform the nation's health care delivery system -- a massive overhaul of one-seventh of the nation's economy.His aides have already asserted that this initiative is the "defining issue" of the Clinton presidency, but he indicated yesterday that in his mind the stakes are even higher:The nation is at an historic "magic moment" in which the battle over health care will reveal whether the United States has the will to confront its deepest problems, asserted the president, flanked by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, as he met with influential physicians.

WASHINGTON -- One week before President Clinton formally unveils his plan to reform the nation's health care system, the White House launched its crusade to sell the plan to the public yesterday, unleashing its key salespeople all over town like an army of Amway representatives.There was Mr. Clinton at a hardware store, talking about the effect of his plan on small businesses, and earlier, in the Rose Garden with ordinary people who had written letters about their health care woes.There was Vice President Al Gore speaking to state and local officials.

WASHINGTON -- The election of Bill Clinton has propelled Maryland Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin into the front line of debate over health care reform, an issue on which he is well-positioned and eager to play a role.For the past two years the Baltimore Democrat pushed a bill to control costs and guarantee universal medical coverage, only to see it ignored in a government in gridlock led by a hostile Republican president.But now Mr. Cardin, a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and its subcommittee on health, finds himself working with a Democratic administration determined to reform the nation's health care system.

WASHINGTON -- It is possible to date precisely when health care reform made the critical transformation from public preoccupation to political priority: Nov. 5, 1991.That was the day Harris Wofford, an old-style liberal Democrat, got his marching orders from voters in Pennsylvania to deliver a message to Washington. The message in his own words: "We have a health crisis that is bankrupting workers, families, our companies, our whole economy."So clearly was it delivered by Mr. Wofford's upset U.S. Senate victory over high-profile Republican Richard L. Thornburgh, former U.S. attorney general and Pennsylvania governor, that President Bush took immediate notice and ordered his experts to produce a health care reform package.

America's liberals have gone from swooning over Barack Obama's ascension to the White House and gloating over their Bush-induced domination of Congress to near-hysteria because ordinary middle-class Americans are rising in anger against the Democrats' planned hijacking of the nation's health care system. MSNBC's Chris Matthews worked himself into his characteristic spittle-laced frenzy while sputtering about the legions of protestors showing up to make meetings designed to sell Obamacare into "Town Hell" occasions.

WASHINGTON -- It is possible to date precisely when health care reform made the critical transformation from public preoccupation to political priority: Nov. 5, 1991.That was the day Harris Wofford, an old-style liberal Democrat, got his marching orders from voters in Pennsylvania to deliver a message to Washington. The message in his own words: "We have a health crisis that is bankrupting workers, families, our companies, our whole economy."So clearly was it delivered by Mr. Wofford's upset U.S. Senate victory over high-profile Republican Richard L. Thornburgh, former U.S. attorney general and Pennsylvania governor, that President Bush took immediate notice and ordered his experts to produce a health care reform package.

WASHINGTON -- It is possible to date precisely when health care reform made the critical transformation from public preoccupation to political priority: Nov. 5, 1991.That was the day Harris Wofford, an old-style liberal Democrat, got his marching orders from voters in Pennsylvania to deliver a message to Washington. The message in his own words: "We have a health crisis that is bankrupting workers, families, our companies, our whole economy."So clearly was it delivered by Mr. Wofford's upset U.S. Senate victory over high-profile Republican Richard L. Thornburgh, former U.S. attorney general and Pennsylvania governor, that President Bush took immediate notice and ordered his experts to produce a health care reform package.