Dukakis Discusses Health Care

About 75 students and faculty members crowded an Institute of Politics room hosting a luncheon with former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis to capacity yesterday.

The Harvard attendees discussed health care reform over sandwiches and potato chips with the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee.

Dukakis reflected on the recent defeat of the Clinton health care initiative and gave some personal insights on why it failed.

Pre-election partisanship and the complexity of the various plans led to their eventual failure, he said, even though "Americans are going through unbelievable agony to get health care."

"[The bills] were over-bureaucratic," Dukakis said. "The Clinton plan was 1300 pages and the Mitchell plan 1400."

He offered an example of one health care reform plan that has worked at the state level.

"Hawaii's plan was 25 pages, it's simple and it works," Dukakis said. "If I were president, I would draft a national version of the Hawaiian plan but with a cost control mechanism."

In Hawaii, employers must provide health coverage for their employees, and the state pays private insurers to cover the unemployed.

But Hawaii native Marlene M. Ching '98, who attended the discussion, said Dukakis overemphasized the positive benefits of the Hawaiian system.

While "it would be a very good model for the nation," Ching said that Hawaii's system has problems too.

"Some of my doctor's patients were not a part of Health Quest, the state system and they had to change doctors," she said.

Although past presidents have tried to create health care plans, Dukakis said that he thinks the recent recession pushed the issue into the spotlight.

"[In the '88 election] I gave a speech on health care in Kentucky. On the same day Bush was in a flag factory in New Jersey," he said. "Guess who got the media's attention--Bush."

Dukakis also spent some time discussing other current issues.

"The world today is substantially better," he said. "People must be feeding tranquilizers to those people in Northern Ireland and Haiti."

Those in attendance had mixed reactions to the talk.

Kristen Olsavsky '98, an aspiring doctor who has been following the health care debate, said she "spent a lot of time being overwhelmed by being two feet from Dukakis."

Other students, however, seemed less thrilled by what Dukakis said.

Neil Farnsworth '98 says Dukakis' talk didn't leave any lasting impressions on him.

"Dukakis walked the middle road," Farnsworth said. "He was careful with what he said and wasn't committed to any group."

He seemed equally unimpressed with the former governor's attire.

"[Dukakis] really needs to work on clothes," Farnsworth said. "Corduroy pants and white L.A. Gear shoes just don't cut it."