Mitchell Offers Three Cheaper Health Plans

With the backing of the White House, Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) has offered Senate Democrats three cheaper versions of President Clinton’s health plan, a published report said.

Each still seeks to guarantee all Americans health insurance and to require employers to pay some of the cost, the New York Times said in today’s editions.

But the alternatives all would cost less than the Administration proposal. They variously accomplish that by reducing what employers would pay, decreasing what the government would pay, limiting benefits or increasing what individuals would pay, the paper said. Mitchell offered them in an effort to get Congress moving on health care, the report said.