Bennett touts his health-care bill

NEW YORK — Several competing proposals to reform health care, including one by Sen. Bob Bennett, are pending in Congress and aim to help the uninsured get health-care coverage, allow people with insurance to remain covered and create a better overall system.

Bennett, R-Utah, and other lawmakers discussed their health-care ideas here at New School University on Monday in a forum moderated by the university's president, former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska.

"The present system is broken," Bennett said.

In fact, the nation really does not have a central health-care system or policy, he added. "That's part of the problem."

Kerrey noted that the United States is the only industrialized country that does not have a health-care system.

"I am making the case for more government involvement," he said.

Since May, Bennett has been a co-sponsor of the Healthy Americans Act, which was initially introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Among several changes, the bill would allow individuals to choose their own health-care plans, and health insurance would no longer be tied to a person's job.

The bill's aim is to take employers out of the business of managing health-care plans. State-based Health Help Agencies would aid individuals in picking and enrolling in plans. The bill now has nine co-sponsors in the Senate.

Wyden said Monday that while presidential candidates can talk about health-care plans, it is really up to Congress to debate and legislate changes to health care, which is outdated and in need of reform.

"Our country has a vacuum-tube-era health-care system for a microchip world," Wyden said. "We're spending enough money today on health care. We're not spending it in the right places."

Bennett said Monday's discussion is part of a plan to keep the bill — and its bipartisan support — on the table in case Congress decides to take up health-care reform and while White House hopefuls continue to lay out their plans as the 2008 election draws closer.

Giving people the choice to pick their HMO or other health-care options rather than being "stuck" with what their employer has picked would create competition among companies and give people freedom to move from a job without losing their insurance, Bennett said.