Proposed Laws and Roll Call Votes in the U

Proposed Laws and Roll Call Votes in the U.S. Congress on Affordable Health Care

NOT REPORTED

by the Mainstream Media.

Introduction.

By the mid-1990's, and for the first time in American history, health care costs in the United States exceeded $1 trillion a year -- 1.039 trillion in 1996, $1.088 trillion in 1997, and $1.149 trillion in 1998. Projections of 1998 data indicate health care costs will be almost $1.5 trillion in 2002, $1.9 trillion in 2006, and $2.043 trillion in 2007. Yet from January 1995 to September 2000, the Republicans in the House and in the Senate fought off 80 attempts by the Democrats and Bernie Sanders of Vermont for Affordable Health Care legislation.

National Censorship of the News on Health Care Legislation

Rather than report upon the 80 attempts to get laws passed or to report on important roll votes affecting the health care of all Americans, the Mainstream Media instead never reported on much of this activity or reported on it in such a fragmented way that the American People could not understand what was going on. This wasn't accidental, nor is it accidental today. It is a nationally-directed policy of censorship and deception to keep the American People uninformed on a national problem that presently eats up one in seven dollars of our Gross National Product.

The 80 attempts for affordable health care legislation are just those I was able to identify from an examination of the Thomas data base on the U.S. Congress. It does not include a number of additional bills on the need for protecting the work force against Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI) the Democrats and Congressman Sanders attempted to get passed during the same six-year period. This web page is divided into two parts. In the first part we can look at the health care legislation sorted into catergories and then discussed in chronological order. The second part of this web page shows the 80 attempts of the Democrats in strict chronological order by year and by the time of year in which the laws were proposed or roll call votes were taken.

A more rigorous examination by a team of researchers would probably identified a larger number of health-care related bills and roll call votes. In any case, as can be seen from the Scorecard below, 1995, 1999, and the year 2000 were the years during which the Democrats made major efforts to get affordable health care legislation through the Congress.

The Eighty Attempts Sorted by Topic and Then by Date

The Scorecard:

1995 (18 attempts by the end of 1995)

1996 (6 attempts --a total of 24 attempts by the end of 1996)

1997 (5 attempts -- a total of 29 attempts by the end of 1997)

1998 (12) attempts -- a total of 41 attempts by the end of 1998)

1999 (22 attempts -- a total of 63 attempts by the end of 1999)

2000 (17 attempts -- a total of 80 attempts so far)

Categorizing the Affordable Health Care Laws and Roll Call Votes

Looking at the 80 attempts chronologically by year provides some idea of the affordable health care battles that occurred in those years. However, when we categorize the proposed laws and roll call votes by the specific things proposed in a law or being voted on in a roll call vote, we can learn a great deal more about the Democrats' futile crusade of 1995 to 2000. This also allows us to show the means by which the Republicans were able stop affordable health care legislation in its tracks.

In 1995, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives put into effect a number of House Rules which effectively stopped roll call votes on much of the health care legislation discussed in that body for the next six years. A few roll call votes were permitted, but most amendments to bills which would have normally been voted upon were killed by Republican points of order in the House or by a similar legistlative procedures in the Senate. In the list of specific laws and roll call votes shown below, the killing of legislation via a Republican point of order is designated by the term Killed-RPO. This did not stop the Democrats from writing and proposing laws, but these were quickly sent down to various sub-committees of the House and Senate and quietly killed. These laws are designated by the term Killed-RCSC -- killed in a Republican-controlled sub-committee of the House or Senate. When a bill did make it to a roll call vote, in almost all cases it was killed in the House or Senate Roll Call votes listed below.

Because of the deliberate suppression of the news on the health care battles that went on in the Congress during the last six years, most Americans will be surprised to learn of the extensive amount of legislative record proposed by the Democrats on Health Care issues from January 1995 to September 2000.

Section 1:

A STRONG PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

A STRONG Patients' Bill of Rights includes the right of American health care consumers to sue their HMO or health insurance companies for refusing medical care, delaying medical care, or for other activities detrimental to the health of the consumer. A STRONG Patients' Bill of Rights also extends its full protection to all persons in the United States paying for health insurance.

1995: HR.2359 - Killed-RCSC -September

1996: HR.4315 - Killed - RCSC - September

1997: HR.1191 Killed - RCSC - March

1998: S.1890, S.1891 -both Killed- RCSC - March; HR.3605 - Killed - RCSC - April; Amendment for STRONG Patients' Bill of Rights killed by Senate Roll Call vote 73 - April; Amendment for STRONG Patients' Bill of Rights killed in House Roll Call vote 336 - July; S.2529 - Killed - RCSC - October

1999: HR.358- Killed - RCSC - January; S.240 - Killed - RCSC - January; S.6 - Killed - RCSC - March. In July, three Senate Roll Call votes -- 198, 204, and 205 -- killed Democratic amendments to strengthen a WEAK Republican Patients' Bill of Rights.

HR.2723, STRONG Norwood-Dingell Patients' Bill of Rights law. - three House Roll Call votes in October - 487, 488, 489 against Republican amendments to gut bill; and one vote to pass a STRONG Norwood-Dingell bill. A final House Roll Call vote in November, Roll Call vote 558 instructed House conferees to insist on a STRONG Patient's Bill of Rights.

2000: House roll call vote 6 approving HR.2723, the Norwood-Dingell STRONG Patients' Bill of Rights in February. This was later killed by no action in the Republican-controlled Senate. Dorgan amendment to place a "floor" under the protection for Americans enrolled in private health killed in Senate Roll Call vote 167 - June. Dorgan amendment adding 161 million Americans to the WEAK Republican Patients' Bill of Rights killed in Senate Roll Call vote 167 - June. Kennedy bills S.3057 and S.3058 killed by no action in the Senate - September.

Section 2:

STRONG ANTI-FRAUD LAWS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID; FIGHTING AGAINST THE WEAKENING OF EXISTING ANTI-FRAUD LAWS.

Beginning in 1995, the Democrats made several attempts to get STRONG anti-fraud legislation passed for both the Federal Medicare program and the Federal-State Medicaid program, as well as for the entire health care system in the United States. In addition to proposing the strenghtening and broadening of anti-fraud legislation, the Democrats found it necessary to fight off Republican efforts to weaken existing anti-fraud laws. Some of the legislation the Republicans were able to get made into law during the early years of the Republican take-over of Congress actually FACILITATED FRAUD in the Medicare and Medicaid programs and in the activities of HMOs, health insurance companies, and hospitals serving the remaining 195 million Americans. Other Republican proposals would have effectively reduced the number of anti-fraud workers watching over the U.S. health care system, if allowed to become law.

1995: Killed in Senate Roll Call votes 510 and 556 - October; Weakening of existing anti-fraud laws stopped in SRC vote 573; permitted to go ahead in Senate Roll Call vote 584 - November.

1997: HR.1770 - Killed RCSC - June

1998: Clinton program of 1998 - weakened and effectively killed.

Section 3:

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

3a - DISCLOSURE LAWS - PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES

(1). To Direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to Establish a Consumer Guide for Prescription Drugs

1996: HR.3059 - Killed-RCSC - March

1997: HR.183 - Killed-RCSC - January

(2). To Direct HHS to Establish Prescription Drug Price Review Board

1996: HR.3691 - Killed-RCSC - June

1998: HR.3925 - Killed - RCSC - May

(3). To assure equitable treatment in health care coverage of prescription drugs.

1996: HR.3991 - Killed-RCSC - August

(4). Amendment to HR.4461 prohibiting FDA approval of a prescription drug unless there is disclosure four times a year on the price of that same drug in Europe.

2000: HR.4461 - Killed - RPOI - July.

(5). Denying pharmaceutical companies tax benefits if drugs if they charged U.S. more than foreign custormer

2000: HR.3665 - Killed-RCSC - February; S.2465- Killed-RCSC - April.

3b: PRESCRIPTION DRUGS - 'REASONABLE PRICES'

(1). To forbid National Institutes of Health from entering into contracts with drug companies unless those contracts include a "reasonable pricing" clause.

1995: Amendment to HR.2127 - Killed in HRC vote 624 - August

(2). To forbid HHS from granting exclusive marketing rights to drug companies for prescription drugs developed with Federal taxpayer dollars unless those contracts contain a 'reasonable pricing' clause.

1996: Killed in House Roll Call vote 306 on HR.3755 - July

1999: HR.626 - Killed - RCSC February.

(3). To Provide for Prescription Drugs under Medicare

1998: HR.4753 - Killed - RCSC - October

1999: HR.886 Killed - RCSC - March; S.696 - Killed - RCSC - March; HR.1109 - Killed - RCSC - April; HR.1796 - Killed - RCSC - May; HR.2012 - Killed - RCSC - June; H.Con Resolution 152 - Killed - RCSC - July; HR.2782 - Killed - RCSC - September.

2000: Amendment to HR.4577 saying no tax deductions for top 1% taxpayers unless prescription drugs provided under Medicare - Killed-RPO - June in the House; Killed in Senate Roll Call vote 144 - June.

(4). To provide prescription drug coverage for Medicare beneficiaries dropped from HMO Medicare + plans under the Medicare program.

HR. 3086 - Killed - RCSC - November.

3c: DISCLOSURE OF THE TAXPAYER CONTRIBUTION TO THE R&D COSTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PRESCRIPTION DRUG

(1). To require reporting on taxpayer-paid R&D costs for prescription drugs.

1996: HR.4270 - Killed - RCSC - October

(2). Amendment requiring disclosure of the taxpayer contribution to the development of a prescription drug prior to the FDA approval of that drug.

2000: Amendment to HR.4461 - Killed - RPOI -July.

3d: PRESCRIPTION DRUGS - 'MOST-FAVORED' CUSTOMER

U.S. pharmaceutical companies provide prescription drugs to "Most-Favored Customers such as the U.S. Government, HMOs, health insurance companies and hospitals at prices one-fourth, one-third, one-half of three-fourths of the retail price in the United States. By reducing prescription drug costs to the "most favored" price or by allowing Medicare beneficiaries or pharmacies to purchase the drugs at the "most favored" price, costs to Medicare recipients could be considerably reduced.

(1). Reducing prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients to "most-favored" customer prices

1998: HR.4646 - Killed - RCSC - September

(2). To allow Medicare beneficiaries to buy prescription drugs from the U.S. Government Services Administration.

1998: HR.4794 - Killed - RCSC - October.

(3). To allow pharmacies to buy prescription drugs from the U.S. government for Medicare beneficiaries.

1999: HR.664 - Killed - RCSC - February.

3e: IMPORTATION OR REIMPORTATION OF U.S. PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES

1999: HR.1885 - Killed - RCSC - June.

2000: Bi-partisan amendment to HR.4461 in the Senate passed; HR.4461 then gutted by the Republican House and Senate leadership.

3f: PRESCRIPTION DRUGS - OTHER

(1). To stop the over-medication of Medicare beneficiaries by doctors using prescription drugs.

1997: HR.1201 - Killed - RCSC - March.

(2). Overpayment for Drugs and Biologicals under Medicare

1998: HR.3139 - Killed - RCSC - February

(3). Amendment to HR.4577 calling for the investigation of corporations providing prescription drug coverage who had drastically reduced or eliminated that coverage.

2000: Amendment to HR.4577 - Killed - RPO - June.

SECTION 4:

NATIONAL HEALTH CARE LAWS;

WEAKENING OR CUTTING FEDERAL HEALTH CARE REGULATIONS;

CUTTING MEDICARE/MEDICAID;

ELIMINATING NURSING HOME STANDARDS;

STOPPING DRUG DISCOUNTS FOR CERTAIN MEDICARE RECIPIENTS

(1). Omnibus National Health Care

1995: S.168 - Killed-RCSC-January; HR.1200-Killed-RCSC-March

1997: HR.4836 - killed RCSC - February.

(2). Amendments to stop the weakening or abolition of Federal Health Regulations

1995: Killed in House Roll Call votes 35, 36, 66, 68, 80-January,February

(3). Amendments to Stop Cuts in Medicare and Medicaid Funding

1995: Killed in House Roll Call votes 742 and 743 October; Killed in Senate Roll Call votes 499, and 502 and 556 -October; Killed in Senate Roll Call vote 571-November.

(4). Amendment to Stop the Elimination of Nursing Home Standards

1995: Approved in Senate Roll Call vote 573 - killed in Senate Roll Call vote 584, November

(5). Amendment opposing the stopping of drug discounts for certain Medicare recipients.

1995: Approved in Senate Roll Call vote 573; killed by Senate Roll Call vote 584. November

The 80 Attempts in Chronological Order

The Scorecard:

1995 (18 attempts by the end of 1995)

1996 (6 attempts --a total of 24 attempts by the end of 1996)

1997 (5 attempts -- a total of 29 attempts by the end of 1997)

1998 (12) attempts -- a total of 41 attempts by the end of 1998)

1999 (22 attempts -- a total of 63 attempts by the end of 1999)

2000 (17 attempts -- a total of 80 attempts so far)

1995 - There were 18 attempts during this year: There were the (1) S.168 and (2) HR.1200 national health care bills; House roll call votes (3-7) 35, 36, 66, 68, and 80 on health care amendments to the "Unfunded Mandates Act;" and (8) House roll call vote 624 on an amendment to HR.2127, the HHS appropriations bill, calling for the reasonable pricing of prescription drugs developed with taxpayer dollars. In September, there was the first Democratic attempt (9) for a Patients' Bill of Rights. In October and November 1995, there were two House votes (10-11) [Roll Calls 742 and 743], and four Senate votes (12-15) [Roll Calls 499, 502, 556, 571] on Democratic efforts to roll back Republican cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. In October, (16) Senator Harkin's Medicare and Medicaid ANTI-FRAUD amendment was voted down in Roll Call vote 510, and in November, (17-18) Senator Kennedy's attempt to stop the Senate from taking away drug discounts for Medicare, weakening current laws against Medicare and Medicaid FRAUD and ABUSE, and eliiminating Federal nursing home standards was first passed (Roll Call vote 573), and then discarded from the Senate bill in Roll Call vote 584.

1996 - There were 6 attempts in this year: (1) HR.3059, which would have directed HHS to prepare consumer guide to prescription drugs; (2) HR.3691, which would have created a Prescription Drug Price Review Board; (3) HR.3991, which would have called for equitable pricing of prescription drugs in U.S. reducing the retail price to the "most favored customer" price; (4) HR.4270, which would have required reporting on taxpayer-funded R&D for drugs approved for marketing. In September, there was (5) a second attempt at a Patients' Bill of Rights, and (6) House Roll Call vote 306 on an amendment to HR.3755, the FY97 HHS appropriations bill, calling for an HHS-approved pricing agreement on prescription drugs developed with taxpayer dollars before those drugs are put on sale.

1997 - There were 5 attempts during 1997: (1) HR.183 which would have directed the Department of Health and Human Services to publish an annual Consumer Guide on Prescription Drug Prices; (2) HR.4836, another attempt to introduce a national health care bill; and (3) HR.1201, an attempt to prevent physicians from over-prescribing certain drugs for the aged (dangerous over-medication). (4) HR.1191 of March 1997 was the third Democratic attempt at a Patients' Bill of Rights, and (5) HR.1770 was introduced in June 1997 to provide for STRONG ANTI-FRAUD laws to implement the Clinton Administration's program to combat fraud, waste and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid.

1998 - There were 12 attempts, eleven in the Congress and one attempt by the Clinton Administration during the course of the year: The STRONG ANTI-FRAUD provisions of HR.1770 that had been killed by the Republicans in 1997, were incorporated in (1) the Clinton Administration's FRAUD, WASTE, and ABUSE FY1999 program sent to the Congress in early 1998. These provisions were watered down or never appeared in the final legislation from the Republican-controlled Congress.

In addition, (2) HR.3139 would have amended the Social Security Act to prevent the OVERPAYMENT for drugs and biologicals under the Medicare program; (3, 4, and 5) HR.3605, S.1890, and S.1891 were the Patients Bill of Rights Act of 1998; (6) was a Kennedy amendment on the Bill of Rights killed in Roll Call Vote 73 in March; and (7) HR.3925 in May was another attempt to establish a Prescription Drug Monitoring Commission. (8) In July, the Dingell amendment to HR. 4250, and which included the full text of HR.3605 was defeated in House Roll Call vote 336. (9) HR.4646 of September was another attempt to reduce retail prescription drug prices to the prices paid by "most favored" customers of the pharmaceutical industry, and (10) was S.2529, the sixth and last attempt in 1998 to get a Patients' Bill of Rights through the Congress. (11) HR.4753 of October 1998 would have amended the Social Security Act to provide for outpatient prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries; and (12) HR.4794 would have allowed pharmacies to buy drugs from the GSA for Medicare beneficiaries, reducing costs by one-half to one-third of the current retail prices set by the pharmaceutical industry.

1999 - There were 22 attempts in 1999. (1,2,3) HR.358, S.6, and S.240 were the Patients' Bill of Rights Act of 1999. (4) HR.626 was another attempt to provide reasonable pricing for drugs developed with taxpayer dollars; (5) HR.664 would have allowed pharmacies to buy prescription drugs from the government for Medicare, reducing costs by one-half to one-third for the beneficiaries; (6) HR.886 provided for Medicare coverage of prescription drug costs which would have been paid for with funds from the Estate Tax; (7) HR.1109 provided for Medicare coverage of prescription drug costs; (8) S.696 - essentially the same as HR.886; (9) HR.1796 - provided for Medicare coverage of prescription drugs for people with chronic diseases; (10) HR.1885 provided for the reimportation of approved U.S. prescription drugs from Canada, Mexico and other foreign countries; (11) HR.2012, and (12) House Continuing Resolution 152, called for prescription drug coverage under Medicare. (13, 14, 15) were Democratic amendments to the Republican WEAK Patients' Bill of Right S.1344, all of which were defeated in Senate Roll Call Votes 198, 204, and 205. (16) HR.2782 was the last Democratic attempt during 1999 to call for prescription drug coverage under Medicare.

In August 1999, HR.2723, the bipartisan Norwood-Dingell STRONG Patients' Bill of Rights was introduced. In four roll call votes (17, 18, 19, 20) in October, the Democrats and a small group of Republicans beat back three efforts to emasculate HR.2723, and succeeded in passing the bill on October 7. (21) HR.3086 was designed to help Medicare beneficiaries who were being dropped from HMOs providing prescription drug insurance. By late October, the Senate had replaced the Norwood-Dingell bill with the much weaker Senate bill. A November 3rd vote, (22) instructed the House conferees to insist on the provisions of Norwood-Dingell as passed by the House.

2000 - There were 17 attempts. (1) The House vote on the Norwood-Dingell bill providing a STRONG Patients' Bill of Rights on Feburary 1. (2 and 3) HR.3665 and (2) S.2465 both provided for denying pharmaceutical companies tax benefits under the Internal Revenue Code if those companies charged higher prices for prescription drug in the U.S. than in other countries; (4) an amendment to HR.4577, the FY2001 appropriations bill for HHS, which called for an investigation into Medicare HMOs dropping beneficiaries with prescription drug coverage --killed on a point of order; (5) an amendment to HR.4577 saying no tax reductions for top 1 percent of income levels unless prescription drug benefits under Medicare passed -- killed on a point of order; (6) an amendment to HR.4577 calling for increased funding for HHS programs for seniors by $661 million - killed on a point of order; and (7-8) House roll call votes 272 and 273 on HR.4577.

Senate votes -- (9-12) Roll Call 144 on Medicare coverage of prescription drug costs; Roll Call 164 on prohibiting insurance companies from using genetic information on the people they insure; Roll Call vote 167 killing the Dorgan amendment adding 161 million Americans to the Republican Patients' Bill of Rights, and Roll Call 168 on an amendment to HR.4577 prohibiting the licensing of drugs developed with taxpayer dollars. (13) A House amendment to HR.4461 requiring that the taxpayer contribution to the R&D of a particular prescription drug be disclosed prior to FDA approval -- killed on a point of order; (14) a second amendment to HR.4461 prohibiting FDA approval of a drug unless there is a disclosure four times a year of the average price of that drug in each country of the European Union -- also killed on a point of order. (15 and 16) Senator Kennedy's S.3057 and S.3058, a STRONG Patients' Bill of Rights. No action

(17) A BI-PARTISAN Senate amendment to HR.4461 calling for the importation or re-importation of approved U.S. prescription drugs. This was passed in the Senate in Roll Call vote 217. This amendment was later gutted in the House-Senate conference on the instructions of the Republican leadership in the House and Senate. In addition, a number of provisions written by pharmaceutical industry lawyers were incorporated in the bill, which was part of a much larger MUST PASS agricultural appropriations bill supported by members of both parties.