The Senate took new actions to change the way health insurance is delivered, approving measures to assure two-day hospital stays for new mothers and removing some inequalities for mental-health coverage.
Both measures, strongly supported by the Clinton administration, follow the recent trend of eschewing a major health-care overhaul in favor of smaller, incremental steps.In addition, the Senate passed a measure that would extend benefits to Vietnam War veterans whose children suffer from the birth defect spina bifida. In doing so, the lawmakers recognized a link between exposure to the Vietnam-era herbicide Agent Orange and occurrences of the birth defect.
All three were amendments to an $84.7 billion bill to finance veterans, housing, space and other programs in fiscal 1997 that passed, 95-2. The House passed the measure earlier.
The Senate also sent to the president military construction and District of Columbia spending bills Thursday in its rush to complete its appropriations work before the fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
The hospital stay measure, passed by voice vote, requires insurance providers to pay for at least 48 hours in the hospital for new mothers. Women who give birth by Caesarean section would be guaranteed 96 hours.
The bill, pushed by Sens. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., and Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is aimed at reversing efforts by insurance companies to limit the time new mothers spend in the hospital.
"Currently, a mother can be pushed out of the hospital and sent home after only 12 or 16 hours," Bradley said. "Then, on the second day, jaundice or a heart defect or other problem may be detected. The mother is then rushed back to the hospital at much greater cost."
President Clinton, in a Mother's Day address last May, urged Congress to act on such legislation, saying "no insurance company should be free to make the final judgment about what is medically best for newborns and their mothers."
The House has introduced several similar bills, including one by Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., who as chairman of the Rules Committee can steer the measure to a vote before Congress recesses at the end of this month.