***** Reformatted. Please Redistribute. CLINTON/GORE ON AFFORDABLE, QUALITY HEALTH CARE We can't afford four more years without a president with a plan and the will to guarantee affordable, quality health care for every American. The American health care system costs too much and does not work. It leaves 60 million Americans without adequate health insurance and bankrupts our families, our businesses, and our federal budget. Instead of putting people first, Washington favors the insurance companies the drug companies, and the health care bureaucracies. They are strangling the most advanced health care system in the world. And working Americans are paying the price. Since 1980, the average cost of individual health insurance rose from $1000 to $3000 a year. Today health care costs are the number one cause of labor disputes, bankruptcies, and growth in the federal deficit. People can't change jobs because insurance companies will deny them coverage because of "pre-existing conditions." Small businesses are caught between going broke and doing right by their employees. Working men and women are forced to pay more while their employers cover less. Health care should be a right, not a privilege. And it can be. We are going to preserve what's best in our system: your family's right to choose who provides care and coverage, American innovation and technology, and the world's best private doctors and hospitals. But we will take on the bureaucracies and corporate interests to make health care accessible to every American. The United States is the only advanced country in the world without a national health care plan. In the first year of a Clinton/Gore Administration, that will change. We will send a national health care plan to Congress, and we will fight to pass it. No American family should have to go from the doctor's office to the poorhouse. Cap national spending to control health care costs * Create a health standards board made up of consumers, providers, business, labor and government. The health standards board will establish an annual health budget for the nation to limit both public and private expenditures. * Crack down on billing fraud and eliminate incentives that invite abuse. Take on the insurance industry * Ban underwriting practices that waste billions trying to discover which patients are bad risks; prohibit companies from denying coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions. * Protect small businesses through "community rating," which requires insurers to spread risks evenly among all companies. * Shut down the "paper hospital" and replace expensive and complex financial forms and accounting procedures with a simplified, streamlined billing system with one claim form. Under the current system, 1,500 companies waste millions of dollars processing 1,500 sets of forms. * Work to provide everyone with "smart cards" coded with personal medical information. Stop drug price gouging * Eliminate tax breaks for drug companies that raise their prices faster than Americans incomes rise to protect American consumers and bring down prescription drug prices. * Discourage drug companies from spending more on marketing than on research and development because saving lives must come before making money. Establish a core benefits package * Through the health standards board, guarantee a basic health benefits package that includes ambulatory physician care, inpatient hospital care, prescription drugs, and basic mental health services. The package will also include expanded preventive treatments such as pre-natal care, mammograms, and routine health screenings. * Allow consumers to choose where they receive care to ensure a better fit between provider strengths and consumer needs. * Expand Medicare for elderly and disabled Americans to include more long-term care; place special emphasis on home- and community-based care, and make funding flexible so that those who need care can decide what serves them best. Develop health networks * Give consumers access to a variety of local health networks made up of insurers, hospitals, clinics and doctors to end the costly duplication of services and encourage the shared use of key technologies. * Allocate to networks a fixed amount of money for each consumer, the networks the necessary incentive to control costs. Guarantee universal coverage * Guarantee every American a core benefits package set by the health standards board either through their employer or by buying into a high-quality public program. No one will be cut off, cancelled, denied or forced to accept inferior care. * Limit costs for small employers by allowing them to group together and form larger groups to purchase less costly health insurance, or to buy into the public program if it is the cheapest option. * Phase in business responsibilities, covering employees through the public program until the transition is complete. * Improve preventive and primary care through community-based health solutions. A successful health plan must provide all Americans with adequate access to health facilities. The Clinton/Gore plan will expand school-based clinics and community health centers in medically under-served areas. Giving children a healthier future * Bill Clinton provided outspoken support for school-based health clinics. The state now funds 21 such clinics reaching thousands of Arkansas children who wouldn't otherwise have access to health care. Clinic services range from health screenings to immunizations to education. * Increased Early Periodic Screenings, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) screenings by more than 2,000 percent. * Helped reduce the Arkansas infant mortality rate by 43 percent. Arkansas' infant mortality rate dropped from 20 percent above the national average in 1978 to virtual parity in 1990. * Introduced the Healthy Beginnings/Nurse Midwife Program to provide low-income women in East Arkansas with access to comprehensive maternity care. * Established the "Good Beginnings" program, which took advantage of new federal regulations to provide basic health services to more low-income women and their children; Arkansas was the first state to launch such a program. * Proposed and passed a "Health Care Access Law" designed, among other things, to provide universal health coverage for all Arkansas children under age 16, regardless of family income. The law emphasizes preventive and primary care. * Senator Gore was the principal sponsor of the Infant Formula Act to improve nutrition and safety standards. Providing better care and more choice for the elderly * Bill Clinton established the ElderChoices program to allow the state Department of Human Services to give senior citizens alternatives to nursing home care -- including personal and home health care, adult day-care services, and more -- with funds formerly available only for nursing home care. * Imposed strict regulations on nursing homes in his first term, before strict federal regulations were implemented, and has since strengthened these regulations. * Initiated a broad range of cost-effective in-home health care and supportive services for people recovering from serious or chronic illnesses, or who require assistance with daily living activities, to avoid institutionalization. * Increased funding for in-home services from $2.4 million in fiscal year 1981 to a budgeted $38 million for 1992-93. * Senator Gore led the fight for the "Medigap" law to protect seniors from buying worthless insurance coverage. * Sponsored a law establishing Alzheimer's treatment centers. * Senator Gore was a leader in the fight to make generic drugs more available and reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Responding to the AIDS crisis * As chairman of the National Governors' Association, Governor Clinton formed the first working group of governors to develop an AIDS policy. Clinton was a moving force in the creation of an AIDS action plan adopted by the Governors' Association, which called for education and prevention efforts at the local, state and federal levels. * Established the AIDS Advisory Committee for Arkansas, which makes recommendations on HIV policy and program services. * Developed confidential AIDS testing in all 75 Arkansas counties. * Al Gore supported funding for Ryan White AIDS programs, including research and education. * Voted to provide emergency relief to metropolitan areas hardest hit by AIDS. * Promoted development of a full range of services including in-home assistance such as chore services, personal care, home nursing care, and home delivered meals, and community-based services such as transportation, respite care, and friendly visiting. Improving the health of all Americans * Strengthened the Arkansas State Employees Health Insurance Program. Between 1982 and 1991, Arkansas' contribution increased by 335 percent while the state employees' premium for family coverage grew by only 89 percent. Because the program is self-insured, it does not pay premium taxes or produce a profit. Currently, for every $1 collected, 97 cents are paid in claims and only 3 cent in administrative fees. The $200 yearly deductible, 80/20 co-payment scheme and $5,000 Stop-Loss provision provide some of the best coverage in the nation to current and retired public employees. * Proposed and passed a "bare bones" health insurance coverage program, which will allow employers who have not provided employee health insurance for the previous 12 months to offer a package without some services usually thought to increase costs for employers and employees. * Developed key programs to improve rural health: the Rural Physician Recruitment and Retention Program encourages physicians to locate and practice family medicine in small Arkansas communities; Rural Medical Practice Student Loans and Scholarships provide support for medical students agreeing to practice in rural communities. * Enacted a 1989 law requiring the Director of the Department of Health to establish and administer quality standards for X-ray facilities conducting mammography. * Appointed Dr. Joycelyn Elders State Health Department Director. She has received the National Governors' Association Distinguished Service Award, the National Endowment of the Arts' Mary Futrell Award for Creative Leadership in Women's Rights, and the American Medical Association's Dr. Nathan Davis Award. * In August 1992, Arkansas was one of twelve states which received funding as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Initiatives in Health Care Financing Reform Programs. Arkansas was chosen for its innovative approach to increase health insurance coverage to residents and to contain the escalating costs of health care. * Senator Gore conducted hearings that led to the passage of the National Organ Transplant Act, which Gore also helped write. The Act established a national network to match organ donors and recipients. * Led efforts to establish and expand the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry, which now lists more than 200,000 potential donors. * Co-sponsored legislation to help strengthen rural hospitals. * Wrote and steered to passage the Cigarette Labeling Act to require stronger warning labels on the health effects of smoking. Giving children a healthier future * Bill Clinton provided outspoken support for school-based health clinics. The state now funds 21 such clinics reaching thousands of Arkansas children who wouldn't otherwise have access to health care. Clinic services range from health screenings to immunizations to education. * Increased Early Periodic Screenings, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) screenings by more than 2,000 percent. * Helped reduce the Arkansas infant mortality rate by 43 percent. Arkansas' infant mortality rate dropped from 20 percent above the national average in 1978 to virtual parity in 1990. * Introduced the Healthy Beginnings/Nurse Midwife Program to provide low-income women in East Arkansas with access to comprehensive maternity care. * Established the "Good Beginnings" program, which took advantage of new federal regulations to provide basic health services to more low-income women and their children; Arkansas was the first state to launch such a program. * Proposed and passed a "Health Care Access Law" designed, among other things, to provide universal health coverage for all Arkansas children under age 16, regardless of family income. The law emphasizes preventive and primary care. * Senator Gore was the principal sponsor of the Infant Formula Act to improve nutrition and safety standards. Providing better care and more choice for the elderly * Bill Clinton established the ElderChoices program to allow the state Department of Human Services to give senior citizens alternatives to nursing home care -- including personal and home health care, adult day-care services, and more -- with funds formerly available only for nursing home care. * Imposed strict regulations on nursing homes in his first term, before strict federal regulations were implemented, and has since strengthened these regulations. * Initiated a broad range of cost-effective in-home health care and supportive services for people recovering from serious or chronic illnesses, or who require assistance with daily living activities, to avoid institutionalization. * Increased funding for in-home services from $2.4 million in fiscal year 1981 to a budgeted $38 million for 1992-93. * Senator Gore led the fight for the "Medigap" law to protect seniors from buying worthless insurance coverage. * Sponsored a law establishing Alzheimer's treatment centers. * Senator Gore was a leader in the fight to make generic drugs more available and reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Responding to the AIDS crisis * As chairman of the National Governors' Association, Governor Clinton formed the first working group of governors to develop an AIDS policy. Clinton was a moving force in the creation of an AIDS action plan adopted by the Governors' Association, which called for education and prevention efforts at the local, state and federal levels. * Established the AIDS Advisory Committee for Arkansas, which makes recommendations on HIV policy and program services. * Developed confidential AIDS testing in all 75 Arkansas counties. * Al Gore supported funding for Ryan White AIDS programs, including research and education. * Voted to provide emergency relief to metropolitan areas hardest hit by AIDS. * Promoted development of a full range of services including in-home assistance such as chore services, personal care, home nursing care, and home delivered meals, and community-based services such as transportation, respite care, and friendly visiting. Improving the health of all Americans * Strengthened the Arkansas State Employees Health Insurance Program. Between 1982 and 1991, Arkansas' contribution increased by 335 percent while the state employees' premium for family coverage grew by only 89 percent. Because the program is self-insured, it does not pay premium taxes or produce a profit. Currently, for every $1 collected, 97 cents are paid in claims and only 3 cent in administrative fees. The $200 yearly deductible, 80/20 co-payment scheme and $5,000 Stop-Loss provision provide some of the best coverage in the nation to current and retired public employees. * Proposed and passed a "bare bones" health insurance coverage program, which will allow employers who have not provided employee health insurance for the previous 12 months to offer a package without some services usually thought to increase costs for employers and employees. * Developed key programs to improve rural health: the Rural Physician Recruitment and Retention Program encourages physicians to locate and practice family medicine in small Arkansas communities; Rural Medical Practice Student Loans and Scholarships provide support for medical students agreeing to practice in rural communities. * Enacted a 1989 law requiring the Director of the Department of Health to establish and administer quality standards for X-ray facilities conducting mammography. * Appointed Dr. Joycelyn Elders State Health Department Director. She has received the National Governors' Assocation Distinguished Service Award, the National Endowment of the Arts' Mary Futrell Award for Creative Leadership in Women's Rights, and the American Medical Association's Dr. Nathan Davis Award. * In August 1992, Arkansas was one of twelve states which received funding as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Initiatives in Health Care Financing Reform Programs. Arkansas was chosen for its innovative approach to increase health insurance coverage to residents and to contain the escalating costs of health care. * Senator Gore conducted hearings that led to the passage of the National Organ Transplant Act, which Gore also helped write. The Act established a national network to match organ donors and recipients. * Led efforts to establish and expand the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry, which now lists more than 200,000 potential donors. * Co-sponsored legislation to help strengthen rural hospitals. * Wrote and steered to passage the Cigarette Labeling Act to require stronger warning labels on the health effects of smoking. * Gore authored and helped enact into law the Trauma Core Revitalization Act, which makes grants to hospital trauma incurring substantial uncompensated costs in providing trauma care in areas of high rates of crime related drug trafficking.