A Different Bill And Hill

Usually, when political observers think of "Bill and Hill," they conjure up images of former President Clinton and wife Hillary, the Democratic senator from New York.

But on Thursday, Hillary is teaming with another Bill, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the Republican from Tennessee, in pushing health-care information-sharing technology legislation. They assert their drive is a sign of growing bipartisan cooperation in the Senate.

Still, some pundits speculate the two could square off for the presidency in 2008.

They were all smiles when they

Clinton told co-anchor Hannah Storm the measure would "create an electronic medical record that is secure and confidential for every American. It will provide immediate access to important health-care information to physicians treating you, to nurses who are looking after you, to hospitals and nursing homes who are taking care of you.

"It will enable your doctor in New York to talk to a doctor in Tennessee if you were to travel from New York to Tennessee and need medical assistance. And it will cut the time and the mistakes that unfortunately get made because people don't have accurate information at their fingertips. (It will also) lower the cost of health care, because we won't need to be duplicating tests and doing things over. We'll have all the information in one place."

Frist concurred, adding, "It's demonstrated by the two of us being here…that we're in a world today with miracles in medicine. …Yet in spite of that, we have huge inefficiencies in the health-care system that diminish the quality of care, that mean more medical mistakes are made and drive up the cost of health care for everybody.

"(The bill would) empower patients, consumers, to get information that they can use" and enables doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers to communicate with one another. …None of them communicate one to another today electronically. It will lower the cost. It will reduce the mistakes that are being made and drive up the quality of health care."

Asked about a recent poll showing 59 percent of Americans disapproving of Congress' performance, Clinton said, "This is a perfect example of what we can do when we do work together. Sen. Frist and I started talking about this issue over a year ago. …I agree with some of the frustration that Americans feel. We have real challenges confronting us. This is one of them, but there are so many more. We do need to try to find solutions."

Frist predicted passage of energy legislation "in a strong, bipartisan way" within two weeks, and pointed to the recent agreement over judicial approvals as another sign Congress can get past politics to get things done.