Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 17, 1993 TAG: 9308170275
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Washington Post and Boston Globe
DATELINE: TULSA LENGTH: Medium
The governors are veterans of the health care reform battle. Most have felt the burden of skyrocketing Medicaid costs and many have instituted specific programs designed to control costs and increase access to affordable health insurance to business and individuals.
There has been an uneasy sense of bipartisanship surrounding the discussion of health care at the National Governors' Association meeting the past three days, with Republicans anxious to confront the Clinton administration with their opposition to many of the main elements of the emerging program without appearing overtly political in doing so. But mostly the governors share a fear of the unknown.
The governors' concerns were raised to Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, during a private luncheon Monday shortly after the president's speech.
According to Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, two dozen governors, Republicans and Democrats, closely questioned the Clintons about the details of the plan, particularly the employer mandates that are expected to be at its heart and how the costs would be borne by business and possibly the states.
The rapport between Clinton and his former colleagues in the states was obvious, but there remains some mistrust, particularly among Republicans, about what the Democratic-controlled Congress may do to the president's program once it is introduced.
The main concern was, as Republican South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell put it, that when Congress confronts questions of how to pay the costs of universal access to health care, they "will put it on our plate."
Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts, a Democrat, said there is no question in her mind that a national health care program will mean additional mandates on the states. "I'm hopeful that the flexibility issue will be given consideration," she said.
Michigan Gov. John Engler, a Republican, said, "It's not so much where the administration starts out, it's where Congress takes things that's so frightening. If we're not careful, we could have a very very expensive plan, but we could find a lot of costs shifted to the states."
But Clinton did more than just outline his plans for health care reform at the conference. He also offered an intense and at times emotional critique of the way that forces of ambition and selfishness can frustrate the national interest in Washington.
Clinton tried to couple his own political goals to the anti-Washington sentiment that grips large portions of the electorate, painting his health initiative as an almost patriotic cause and a test of national will. But the personal and often unscripted nature of his remarks seemed to say more than political posturing was in play.
"I miss you," Clinton told the nation's governors, gathered for a meeting of the association he once led as Arkansas' governor. "I miss this. I miss the way we make decisions. I miss the sort of heart and soul and fabric of life that was part of every day when I got up and went to work in a state capital. Somehow we've got to bring that back to Washington."
The timing of Clinton's reflections was, of course, carefully chosen. Having decided to ram his budget package through Congress on a partisan basis, his aides now find they will need to both enlist Republican support and build popular critical mass to move health care reform and other fractious issues on Capitol Hill.
"I never want to go through another six months where we have to get all of our votes within one party and where the other party has people that want to vote with us and they feel like they got to stay" with their party, Clinton said.
Nor was Clinton's speech out of line with his apparent drift rightward, back to a political middle ground where sympathetic Democrats say the president is at his strongest. Indeed in some ways, his remarks seemed crafted to rile both the political right and left.
"It's one of his best techniques," said Democratic Gov. William Schaefer of Maryland. "He puts everybody on the defensive and then goes right down the middle."
by CNB