Senator Bob Kerry
1511 K St., N.W., Suite 640
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 393-4110	Fax: (202) 393-4388
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To:     Dr. Fred Fay

Fr:     Julie Kimmel

Re:     Questions about disability issues - this is a draft of a
        response to a questionnaire on disabilities.  I hope
        to make a full platform available in the next few weeks.
        In the meantime, I will send some position papers.
        -----------------------

1.  "...What would you do to make life better for the 43 million
     Americans who have some sort of disability, including
     HIV infection?"

	I came back from Vietnam rather seriously wounded.  My own
experience with a physical disability offered me a small taste
of discrimination.  I know how terrible and lonely it can be to
have a door closed on your.  I believe it is imperative that we
eliminate all forms of discrimination - whether they be on the
basis of physical handicap, race, sex, or religion.

	There are two tools we must use to eliminate barriers for
those with disabilities: we must fully implement the ADA, and we
must provide comprehensive national health insurance as a right
of citizenship.  I cosponsored the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990.  I have also introduced legislation to provide
comprehensive national health coverage for all Americans.  The
legislation addresses the needs of Americans with disabilities
in several ways.  First, it ends any discrimination on the basis
of a pre-existing condition.  Second, it separates health care
coverage from employment so that a person who is unable to work,
for any period of time or for any reason, does not risk losing
health care coverage.  Third, the plan will allow people to
continue to choose their own doctors, hospitals, and health
plans so all Americans can choose the services best for them. 
Finally, Health USA will pay for long term care.

3.  "What is your position on changing Medicaid rules to require
giving people the option to stay in their homes?  Should people
with disabilities be allowed to have control over their own
'attendants' for personal assistance?  If so, what specific
policies would you support to enable this to happen"?

      I believe that Medicaid does not and cannot adequately
meet the myriad health needs for the American people.  Rather
than tinkering around the edges to try and make Medicaid work,
we need fundamental change in our health care system.  Health
USA - my proposal for comprehensive national health care
insurance - will allow people to choose services that best meet
their needs.  Individuals will not only be able to select their
own care providers, they will also be able to receive their care
in either an institution or at home.  Individuals needing home 
care will have the autonomy to choose their service.

	 *  Health USA will pay for long-term care, and extend access
	 to a comprehensive range of acute and long-term care
	 services to all Americans regardless of income, employment,
	 health or other status.

	 *  Health USA calls for a single payer system of financing 	
         health services, which will drastically reduce soaring
	 medical costs.

	Moreover, Health USA will save $11 billion nationwide in
its first year and $150 billion over five years, according to an
independent analysis.  Health USA will put money back in the
pockets of Americans, and save the typical American family about
$500 a year.  A recent AFSCME report calculated that has Health
USA been implemented this year, it would have saved state and
local governments some $27 billion.

     Bob Kerrey's Health USA is not a Canadian system or a
German system.  Health USA is a uniquely American system.  It
relies heavily on the private sector, promotes innovation in the
organized delivery of health care, and provides Americans with
complete choice among competing private and public health plans.

The measure of an effective health care plan is how well it
answers the questions Americans are asking.  Will this plan
control costs and save us money?  Will this plan provide health
care security when we need it?  Will this plan prevent illness
as much as it takes care of us when we are sick?  Will this plan
prevent illness as much as it takes care of us when we are sick?
Will this plan provide some measure of relief for our state and
local governments, which have been battered by runaway health
care costs?  Will this plan satisfy basic American Values?  Will
this plan avoid becoming yet another unresponsive government
behemoth?  Under Health USA the answer to all these questions
is: absolutely yes.  Under other proposals the answer is a
resounding "maybe."

     Kerrey also knows that high health care costs drag down our
businesses and hinder economic growth.  Health USA, by cutting
those costs, will allow our businesses to compete more
vigorously in international markets and generate more jobs at
home.  But Kerrey recognizes as well the moral urgency of our
health care crisis.  He believes that a just and sane America
must care for its citizens when they become ill and cannot care
for themselves.

     "It's hard to do anything if you're not healthy", Bob
Kerrey said in a November 1991 speech.  "I know because I've
been there.  When I returned home after the Vietnam War, I was
embittered, staring at the prospect of life-long disability.  I
found a VA hospital with caring doctors and I found friends.  It
gave me strength to do the things I thought weren't possible".

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"The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend."
	 			Benjamin Disraeli (July 24, 1877)


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