First Lady Vows to Include All Views on Health : Reform: Mrs. Clinton’s task force has come under attack for excluding industry insiders. She says she will make sure their voices are heard, though.

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose task force on health care reform has been criticized for excluding health care industry representatives, vowed Tuesday to ensure that the group considers all viewpoints.

Mrs. Clinton, making her second visit to Capitol Hill to discuss health care, said between separate meetings with House Democrats and Republicans that she intends to “be sure that every concern is included in whatever design that’s presented, and I will do my part to make sure that happens.”

An estimated 300 to 400 staff members and consultants are now working for the task force, but health care industry officials and lobbying groups were deliberately excluded, according to Administration officials. Their absence has prompted complaints from some Republicans and health industry representatives.

Administration officials, however, said that they have consulted with health industry representatives and will continue to do so. They also said that the task force is striving to stay in touch with public concerns, noting that even the most senior task force members, namely Ira Magaziner and Judy Feder, are being encouraged to spend at least an hour a week reading some of the thousands of letters sent to the White House Task Force on National Health Care Reform.

The body, which includes six Cabinet members, also has come under fire because its meetings and working sessions are closed to the public because of concern that publicity would discourage candid evaluation of the problem and proposed solutions. At least one organization, the American Assn. of Physicians and Surgeons, is threatening to file a lawsuit to open up the meetings.

Mrs. Clinton met for about two hours Tuesday afternoon with 40 House Democrats, led by Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) and Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.). “They are going to be very helpful” in the drive for health care reform, Mrs. Clinton said afterward.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Oakland) described the meeting as “one largely of she listening to us.”

Mrs. Clinton then met with House Republican leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) and 23 other members of a newly reconstituted House Republican task force on health care.

It was her second trip to Capitol Hill since Jan. 25, when she was named by the President to head the task force. That week, she met separately with Senate Democrats and Republicans.

The meetings came amid growing speculation that the Administration will seek to impose a freeze on health care prices in the private sector as well as on the government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, a move that would require congressional authorization.

But Mrs. Clinton refused to answer specific questions about possible reforms, saying repeatedly that no decisions have been made.

The possible freeze was one of many options laid out in a Jan. 26 memo written by Magaziner and disclosed Sunday by the Washington Post.

Other options being discussed--which officials said are likely to receive serious consideration--include a cap on premiums charged by insurers and an array of taxes, such as a levy on insurance premiums, a “sin tax” on tobacco and alcohol purchases, a tax on the health benefits workers receive from employers and a tax on “non-critical” health services, such as cosmetic surgery.

The discussions about new taxes come at a time when the task force is weighing internal estimates showing that providing coverage to the 37 million uninsured Americans--a key Clinton campaign pledge--could cost $30 billion to $90 billion a year.

The President also reportedly is considering proposals to save $35 billion in Medicare costs over the next four years by limiting payments to providers while increasing the share paid by well-to-do Medicare recipients.

Medicare finances health care for 35 million elderly Americans and disabled people. The program is expected to cost $146 billion this year.