IV

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 272

Expressing the sense of the House on health care quality.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 6, 1998

Mr. ARMEY submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred

to the Committee on Commerce

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House on health care quality.

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring),

3 SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE HOUSE ON HEALTH CARE QUAL4 ITY.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—The House makes the following find6 ings:

7 (1) Rapid changes in the health care market8 place have compromised confidence in the our Na9 tion’s health system.

10 (2) American consumers want more conven11 ience, fewer hassles, more choices, and better service

12 from their health insurance plans.
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1 (3) All Americans deserve quality-driven health

2 care supported by sound science and evidence-based

3 medicine.

4 (4) The Federal Government, through the Na5 tional Institutes of Health, supports research that

6 improves the quality of medical care that Americans

7 receive.

8 (5) The House is likely to consider proposals to

9 increase funding for the National Institutes of

10 Health substantially in 1999.

11 (6) As the largest purchaser of health care serv12 ices, the Federal Government has a responsibility to

13 utilize its purchasing power to demand high quality

14 health plans and providers for its health programs

15 and to protect its beneficiaries from inferior medical

16 care.

17 (7) The Federal Government must adopt the

18 posture of private sector purchasers and insist on

19 high quality care for the 67,000,000 medicare and

20 medicaid beneficiaries and the 9,000,000 Federal

21 employees, retirees, and their dependents.

22 (8) The private sector has proven to be more

23 capable of keeping pace with the rapid changes in

24 health care delivery and medical practice that affect
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1 quality of care considerations than the Federal Gov2 ernment.

3 (9) As Congress considers health care legisla4 tion, it must first commit to ‘‘do no harm’’ to health

5 care quality, consumers, and the evolving market

6 place. Rushing to legislate or regulate based on an7 ecdotal information and micro-managing health

8 plans on politically popular issues will not solve the

9 problems of consumer confidence and the quality of

10 our health care system.

11 (10) When health insurance premiums rise,

12 Americans lose health coverage. Studies indicate

13 that a 1 percent increase in private health insurance

14 premiums will be associated with an increase in the

15 number of persons without insurance of about

16 400,000 persons.

17 (11) Health care costs have begun to rise sig18 nificantly in the past year. The Congressional Budg19 et Office (referred to as ‘‘CBO’’) projects that the

20 growth in health premiums will be 5.5 percent in

21 1998 up from 3.8 percent in 1997. CBO continues

22 to project that premiums will grow about 1 percent23 age point faster than the Gross Domestic Product in

24 the longer run. CBO also warns that new Federal
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1 mandates on health insurance could exacerbate this

2 increase in premiums.

3 (12) The President’s Advisory Commission on

4 Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health

5 Care Industry developed the Consumer Bill of

6 Rights and Responsibilities. This includes informa7 tion disclosure, confidentiality of health information,

8 and choice of providers.

9 (13) The President’s Commission further deter10 mined that private sector organizations have the ca11 pacity to act in a timely manner needed to keep pace

12 with the swiftly evolving health system.

13 (b) SENSE OF THE HOUSE.—It is the sense of the

14 House that Congress should not pass any health care leg15 islation that will—

16 (1) make health insurance unaffordable for

17 working families and increase the number of unin18 sured Americans;

19 (2) divert limited health care resources away

20 from serving patients to paying lawyers and hiring

21 new bureaucrats; or

22 (3) impose political considerations on clinical

23 decisions, instead of allowing such decisions to be
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1 made on the basis of sound science and the best in2 terests of patients.

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