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.
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring),
SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE HOUSE ON HEALTH CARE QUAL-
ITY.
(a) FINDINGS.—The House makes the following find-
ings:
(1) Rapid changes in the health care market-
place have compromised confidence in the our Na-
tion’s health system.
(2) American consumers want more conven-
ience, fewer hassles, more choices, and better service
from their health insurance plans.
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(3) All Americans deserve quality-driven health
care supported by sound science and evidence-based
medicine.
(4) The Federal Government, through the Na-
tional Institutes of Health, supports research that
improves the quality of medical care that Americans
receive.
(5) The House is likely to consider proposals to
increase funding for the National Institutes of
Health substantially in 1999.
(6) As the largest purchaser of health care serv-
ices, the Federal Government has a responsibility to
utilize its purchasing power to demand high quality
health plans and providers for its health programs
and to protect its beneficiaries from inferior medical
care.
(7) The Federal Government must adopt the
posture of private sector purchasers and insist on
high quality care for the 67,000,000 medicare and
medicaid beneficiaries and the 9,000,000 Federal
employees, retirees, and their dependents.
(8) The private sector has proven to be more
capable of keeping pace with the rapid changes in
health care delivery and medical practice that affect
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quality of care considerations than the Federal Gov-
ernment.
(9) As Congress considers health care legisla-
tion, it must first commit to ‘‘do no harm’’ to health
care quality, consumers, and the evolving market
place. Rushing to legislate or regulate based on an-
ecdotal information and micro-managing health
plans on politically popular issues will not solve the
problems of consumer confidence and the quality of
our health care system.
(10) When health insurance premiums rise,
Americans lose health coverage. Studies indicate
that a 1 percent increase in private health insurance
premiums will be associated with an increase in the
number of persons without insurance of about
400,000 persons.
(11) Health care costs have begun to rise sig-
nificantly in the past year. The Congressional Budg-
et Office (referred to as ‘‘CBO’’) projects that the
growth in health premiums will be 5.5 percent in
1998 up from 3.8 percent in 1997. CBO continues
to project that premiums will grow about 1 percent-
age point faster than the Gross Domestic Product in
the longer run. CBO also warns that new Federal
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mandates on health insurance could exacerbate this
increase in premiums.
(12) The President’s Advisory Commission on
Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health
Care Industry developed the Consumer Bill of
Rights and Responsibilities. This includes informa-
tion disclosure, confidentiality of health information,
and choice of providers.
(13) The President’s Commission further deter-
mined that private sector organizations have the ca-
pacity to act in a timely manner needed to keep pace
with the swiftly evolving health system.
(b) SENSE OF THE HOUSE.—It is the sense of the
House that Congress should not pass any health care leg-
islation that will—
(1) make health insurance unaffordable for
working families and increase the number of unin-
sured Americans;
(2) divert limited health care resources away
from serving patients to paying lawyers and hiring
new bureaucrats; or
(3) impose political considerations on clinical
decisions, instead of allowing such decisions to be