Clinton Pushes Mandates in Health Reform Message

President Clinton took his health reform campaign to America’s heartland Thursday, telling small-business owners that requiring employers to pay most of workers’ insurance is the best way to provide coverage for all.

He acknowledged that the so-called employer mandate is the most difficult issue to resolve if he hopes to win congressional passage of the reform plan that would require employers pay 80% of their workers’ insurance costs.

“I believe you have to require everyone to be covered in order to stop the boat from leaking,” Clinton said in a round-table discussion with six local business owners.

“That is something we have to work through,” Clinton said. “It is also important that you understand that I will not sign a bill that does not have discounts for very small businesses.”

Clinton is hoping to build small business support for his health reform plan. He argued that his proposal would help lower costs to those small businesses that now offer health insurance to their employees often at a price that is about 35% higher than large businesses.

The proposal would raise costs, though, to those businesses that do not now offer insurance to their employees and the National Federation of Independent Businesses is strongly opposed to the employer mandate.

The employer mandate has proved to be the biggest hurdle for Clinton and the main reason why previous efforts at health reform have failed. Many Republicans, including Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas, have said they oppose an employer mandate.

Clinton, who vowed during his presidential campaign to end gridlock in Washington, expressed a willingness to be flexible on the issue and urged lawmakers to tone down the rhetoric and work through their differences.

“We have to do it in a way that permits small business to flourish, because small business is the main generator of new jobs for the American economy,” Clinton told the panel.

The discussion Clinton held with the six business owners, who described their own frustrations with trying to provide health insurance and expressed concerns about the proposed health reform plan, was held before an audience of about 150 representatives from the Kansas small-business community.

It was Clinton’s first stop in a two-day, campaign-style swing through the Midwest aimed at winning support for his complex health reform plan that will require employers to pay most of the cost of their workers’ health insurance.

Earlier Clinton told an airport rally that in any given week, about 58 million Americans are without insurance.

Many of those uninsured are workers who lose coverage temporarily between jobs. Most Americans are insured through their employers and the majority of the uninsured are employed.

The Midwest swing was part of an effort to heighten public awareness and understanding of the reform plan before lawmakers return next week to work on legislation. Clinton said it was important for lawmakers to stop arguing and resolve their differences.

“If we cool the rhetoric and talk about the facts and have practical and compassionate approaches to this, we will solve this problem,” Clinton told supporters.