[THIS IS THE PERIODIC BRIEFING FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TO ITS OFFICIALS AND OTHER SUPPORTERS OF ITS HEALTH-REFORM PROGRAM. IT PROVIDES AN INSIDE LOOK AT HOW THE ADMINISTRATION IS PROMOTING ITS PLAN. THIS ITEM WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE SAME SUBJECT LINE (WITH DIFFERENT DATES) SO YOU CAN EASILY SKIP IT IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO READ IT. -- Steve Freedkin , LIST.HEALTHPLAN Administrator] The White House Health Care Reform Today February 9, 1994 * YESTERDAY'S CBO REPORT VALIDATES PRIMARY GOALS OF THE PRESIDENT'S APPROACH TO HEALTH REFORM. HERE'S WHY: 1. It proves that we can guarantee all Americans private health insurance -- and provide coverage to 39 million additional Americans -- by 2000, while at the same time reducing total health expenditures. 2. It confirms that we will be able to dramatically lower health expenditures over the long run -- by $30 billion in the year 2000 and $150 billion in the year 2004. 3. And, finally, it validates the fact that the President's approach will lead to overall deficit reduction in the long term. It's report maintains that: "CBO believes that the proposal holds the promise of reducing the deficit in the long term." [CBO, "An Analysis of the Administration's Health Proposal", 2/9/94, p. xiii] * WE DIFFER WITH CBO'S SHORT-TERM DEFICIT ESTIMATES, BUT THE DIFFERENCE IS NARROW AND WILL BE WORKED OUT: We are encouraged that the Congressional Budget Office agrees that the President's approach to health reform will bring down the deficit over the long term. We do however disagree on the short-term deficit estimates. Our estimates call for about $10 billion of deficit reduction per year for the first five years. CBO estimates that the proposal will add approximately $10 - $12 billion per year to the deficit. This difference is manageable and we will work with Congress within this range to ensure that the proposal is deficit neutral or better. And as CBO itself said: "The difference between these estimates is small". [CBO, "An Analysis of the Administration's Health Proposal", 2/9/94, p. xiii] We care about reducing the long-term deficit -- and that's what the plan will do. Let's remember that last year at this time, the Administration disagreed with the CBO about its deficit projections for the budget. But we cooperated with them to work out our differences and now we both agree that last year's budget agreement will reduce the deficit even more than either of us originally projected. * Employer Premiums Should Not Be in the Budget: We fundamentally disagree that employers' premium payments for their employees' health insurance should be included in the federal budget. This would mean that payments currently made by private employers to private insurance companies on behalf of tens of millions of Americans would suddenly be considered part of the federal budget. These are payments from one private party to another private party. The government will neither collect nor spend this money. This transaction is similar to the requirement 39 states have today that their residents purchase auto insurance. The resulting payments -- between these people and their insurance companies -- are not counted as part of state budgets, nor would anyone expect them to be. * DIFFERENCES WILL BE WORKED OUT IN CONGRESS: While we do have some differences with some of the individual assumptions and conclusions of the CBO, these differences will be worked out in the Congressional process. Congress will meet this test. There will be adjustments, of course, as health care moves through the process of meeting our goal -- guaranteeing private health insurance for every American.