the gross national product spent on health care by
every other industrialized nation.
(E) The high relative expenditure of the United
States on health care diminishes American incomes,
productivity, and competitiveness in global trade.
(F) Administrative, marketing, and liability
costs are among those components of health care
costs that have grown the fastest.
(G) Cost-shifting, the rising cost of insurance
premiums, and declining coverage are leaving Ameri-
cans without access (or without adequate access) to
important health services.
(2) LIMITED ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE.—(A) A
growing number of Americans are uninsured or in-
adequately insured to meet their health care needs.
(B) All Americans have a right to at least a
basic level of health care services that are continu-
ously available and determined to be cost-effective.
(C) At least 33 million Americans currently
lack access to basic health services at any point in
time.
(D) It is estimated that during any 2-year pe-
riod, approximately 25 percent of the non-elderly
population of the United States has neither health
insurance nor public health care coverage for some
period of time, and that an additional 13 percent of
the population are underinsured for health care.
(3) NATIONAL
PROBLEM.—(A) The growing
costs of health care, coupled with declining access to
services, represent a growing national problem.
(B) Despite growing expenditures on health
care, health status indicators in the United States
lag well behind those of other industrialized nations.
(C) Studies indicate that person who are unin-
sured or underinsured are less likely to receive ade-
quate health care services.
(D) Studies also find that insufficient access to
health care services has a negative impact on health
status and also increased health care expenditures in
the longer term.
(E) The current system of financing health care
in the United States is complex, confusing, and frus-
trating to many Americans, including physicians and
other providers of health care.
(F) National expenditures on health care can-
not continue to expand faster than inflation and the
rate of national economic growth without endanger-
ing the domestic standard of living and international
economic competitiveness.
(b) PROGRAM GOALS.—The goals of the program of
comprehensive health care and cost containment contained
in this Act are as follows:
(1) To provide universal access to health care
services for all Americans regardless of their finan-
cial and medical conditions.
(2) To establish the institutional and political
capacity to control the escalating health care costs
in the United States and to eliminate administrative
waste.
(3) To ensure the portability of health care cov-
erage to all regions of the United States.
(4) To build on the strengths of the Federal
system, with the Federal Government contributing
progressive financing while State government and
units of local government supply additional funding
and administer the program with the flexibility to
address the specific concerns of each region.
(5) To utilize community care networks and
local control to maximize our ability to expand ac-
cess while containing costs.
(6) To maintain the proven advantages of the
American health care delivery system, including pri-
vate practice, the freedom to choose among practi-
tioners, and superiority in biomedical technology.