HEALTH BILL IS DOWN, NOT OUT

JEFFERSON CITY -- A scaled back health care reform bill, touted by Gov. Mel Carnahan and House Speaker Bob Griffin, was rejected on the House floor Monday, but few lawmakers believe they have heard the last of the measure this session.

One version of Griffin's bill remains on the House informal calendar, and House rules give 10 working days for the bill to be taken up again before it dies.

Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett -- who along with most Southeast Missouri legislators voted against the measure Monday, when it failed 92-62 -- said a revised version of the bill limited to health insurance reforms is possible.

"I don't think anything is going to be easy, but we could possibly see a stripped down bill with insurance reforms," said Thomason.

"Is it dead? From past experience, I doubt it."

Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston, believes the bill died when amendments were added that added to the measure's contentiousness.

"I think they could have passed the insurance reforms that were in there, but they just kept adding amendments and getting it back to the original HB-1622 that had become so controversial," Ziegenhorn said. "You can't take a bill this late in the session, add all those amendments, and get any passage.

"I think everyone will agree there are things in the bill that are good, but if you allow amendments to go on, you have to wonder how long the bill will stay good."

Even though the bill was defeated soundly, Ziegenhorn said he won't be surprised if proponents give it another try.

"Stranger things have happened up here," he said. "I think it could still be alive, but only on the insurance reforms. If they start adding amendments, it is dead."

Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, said she hopes some of the less controversial measures will be addressed in this session, with bigger issues resolved before the start of the 1995 session.

"I don't think the issue is dead, even though time is quickly moving past us," said Kasten. "I think, rightfully, the whole country is a bit apprehensive about some of the drastic measures we are attempting."

No issue is really dead until the session adjourns in the Missouri General Assembly, Kasten added. "They always say if you have to die, you should die on the House floor because resurrection is always there as a possibility," she said.

Kasten said she believes issues need to be dealt with this year, if possible, to enable people to transfer health insurance coverage when they change jobs, and to keep people from losing coverage when they have claims.

Thomason said one of the downfalls in the bill is a system of community rating for insurance premiums. There were problems reaching consensus on implementation of the rating system.

"I think the community rating is the number one bugaboo in it," said Thomason. "Pure community rating is probably the way to go, but nobody wants that. The final form that we voted on Monday allowed for a community rating with a variable based on age and geography and allowed labor unions and employers with over 500 employees out of the plan.

"To have pure community rating somebody has to be hurt, and the question becomes: `Are we helping more people than we are hurting?' Nobody could tell us."

Kasten said the health bill still elicits a lot of fear.

"There are just some areas we need to work on," she said. "Everybody I talked to was afraid of the bill because they feared there was too much government.

"People are fearful of government getting into private businesses. Some areas of the bill were just too `takeoverish' by the state for some people."

Ziegenhorn believes all the confusion surrounding the bill, combined with an election year, could keep any form of the measure from garnering 82 votes in the House. Further complicating the situation is that members of the Senate seem cool to the House plan in any form.

"Why, if you are running for re-election, do you want to consider a bill like this that is so controversial and misunderstood and one that the Senate might not even take up?" said Ziegenhorn. "For some legislators, supporting this bill could be political suicide."

The Senate has approved an alternative health care bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Jet Banks, D-St. Louis, that simply allows businesses with 50 or fewer employees to form co-ops to buy insurance. The arrangement is designed to give the businesses more bargaining clout.

The governor has not given up hope on getting a bill approved. In reaction to the bill's defeat, Carnahan said: "Certainly it was a strong day for the insurance lobby and a terrible day for the consumers. But I believe, on taking a second look and working with members, we will be able to allay some of their concerns."