

Gore unveils health care proposal for reaching the uninsured September 7, 1999

Web posted at: 4:16 p.m. EDT (2016 GMT) LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Vice President Al Gore unveiled Tuesday a series of proposals aimed at bringing millions of uninsured Americans into the health care system, including a plan to give every child in the nation access to affordable health care by 2005. To bring more children into the ranks of the insured, Gore is proposing to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program, which helps states provide coverage to children in working families. States can use the federal CHIP money to cover children in families that earn up to 200 percent of the poverty level. If elected, Gore said he would work to raise that cap to 250 percent. Vice President Gore spoke Tuesday on the country's health care system "That is a commitment that I'll keep," he said. Gore would also allow families that do not qualify for the program, and do not receive health benefits through their jobs, to buy into the program. He would give financial bonuses to states that meet enrollment targets for CHIP and Medicaid, programs he believes are not fully utilized. Gore took a potshot at Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential front-runner, when he noted that many Texas children don't have health insurance even though they are eligible for health insurance via CHIP. "In some states -- Texas springs to mind -- one-quarter of all children are still out in the cold," he said. Gore noted that the fastest-growing group of uninsured Americans are between 55 and 65, what he called the "near elderly." Gore proposed allowing "vulnerable Americans" to buy into the program as early as age 55 and he promised a 25 percent tax credit to help defray the cost. Currently, Americans are eligible for Medicare at 65. Gore's proposals follow the incremental approach to changing managed care adopted by President Bill Clinton after his attempt to revamp the system failed to win congressional approval in 1994. "We have all learned that we cannot overhaul the system in one fell swoop," Gore said. "Experience has taught us that there is a way to keep what is right, while fixing what is wrong with American health care." Gore's plan also would:  Let people with disabilities keep Medicare or Medicaid when they returned to the workplace.  Encourage small businesses to band together to negotiate rates for their workers' coverage by providing a 25 percent tax credit to the firms.  Press for a "real, enforceable" patients' bill of rights, similar to legislation that Congress will consider when it returns this month from recess. Gore didn't explicitly say in his remarks whether he favors allowing patients to sue their health maintenance organizations and collect damages when care has been denied. But, he has promoted Democratic legislation this year that would do so. Gore's "bill of rights" would guarantee patients the right to see a specialist, and ensure that doctors can tell patients all their medical options regardless of cost. It also would ensure that pregnant women and cancer patients wouldn't have to change doctors in the middle of treatment. "They don't have a license to practice medicine and they don't have the right to play God," Gore said of HMO's. He suggested that it also would require managed care companies to cover mental illness. Gore's wife, Tipper, recently disclosed that she suffered from depression. "I want to make sure that a patient with depression is given access to care on terms no different from a patient who has diabetes," he said. "And I will begin by improving mental health services for those who receive Medicaid." Gore promised to establish new public-private partnerships to expand access to prevention and wellness programs and to promote such initiatives in the workplace. He didn't say what the government's role would be, however, nor did he say how he would finance the new initiatives. Gore's proposal staked out ground between that of his Democratic rival, former Sen. Bill Bradley, who has said he will propose something approaching universal coverage, and Republicans, who fear that imposing too many mandates on private health care firms will drive up costs. "Others will argue against reforming our health care system carefully, realistically, and step-by-step. Some of them will tell you that the only acceptable answer is a one-size-fits-all solution," Gore said, in an apparent reference to Bradley. The Associated Press contributed to this report.