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can talk about health-care plans, it is really up to Congress to debate and legislate changes to health care, which is outdated and in need of reform.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.

"It puts control of the dollars in the hands of the people who are buying the services," Bennett said. "The employee makes the decision about where the money is going to go."