91.   Opinion polls show that the public wants to rein in health costs, but effective measures to control costs are often unpopular.

92.   Opponents of the employer mandates also said they feared that employer contributions would eventually be raised if government financing failed to cover health costs.

93.   Paradoxically, though, they also perceive expanding revenues as a way for smokers to pay a greater share of the health costs they impose on society.

94.   Private employers have slowed the growth of health costs in recent years by prodding employees to join health maintenance organizations and other forms of managed care.

95.   Reinhardt said the HMO executives were profiting by squeezing health costs, after the government, for political reasons, had failed to do so.

96.   Report cards, acting as a guide for consumer choices, can help drive health costs down and quality up.

97.   Republicans generally oppose price controls and favor the use of market forces to restrain health costs.

98.   Republican lawmakers argued the co-payment would help slow the growth of Medicare home health costs by discouraging unnecessary use of the service.

99.   Republicans squabbled among themselves, with some disagreeing over the extent of legal protections that should be afforded to patients and whether the proposals would fuel rising health costs.

100.   Renewed vigilance and a new approach to empowering employees as responsible consumers of health services are vital to avoid a further surge in health costs.