Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Town Hall Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota 17 September 1993

When this process began many months ago, the President's goal was to design a program that would fulfill the American promise of affordable, high quality health care for every citizen. That promise is founded on a fundamental belief: that good health is every American's most cherished possession, a source of collective strength and prosperity for our nation. It is also founded on a conviction that every American should have the right to necessary health care. This is not a new idea, nor a revolutionary concept. We have talked about it for years. But while we have talked, the problems, the challenges, the bureaucracy, the red tape, the costs of health care have continued to accumulate. So it is time to move beyond talk, time to move out of the auditoriums and the clinic offices, the water cooler discussions, into the halls of Congress to establish the basic principle that every individual is entitled to health care security.

The process of drafting the plan that the President will propose has involved literally thousands and thousands of people from all walks of life and from every corner of every state. We have listened to those who tend to the sick, the doctors, the nurses, the technicians, the employees in hospitals and hospices. And we have listened to those who receive care. The patients who know firsthand the benefits and pitfalls of our current system.

We have listened to those who thought they were secure, but lost that health insurance and joined the 2.25 million Americans every month, who for some period of time, lose their health insurance. We have listened to the stories of job lock. We have listened to the excruciating tales that come from people being denied insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions. And we have heard from businesses large and small, and from insurance companies that provide health insurance coverage.

We have talked to governmental leaders at the local state levels to talk to them about what challenges confronted them. And we have especially enjoyed the counsel and advice of people from Minnesota -- people like Lois Kwan, who is here on the podium and others who are in this audience who have given of their time away from their families, away from their businesses, away from their practices, to spend countless days in Washington helping us make sure we got it right.

Now, what we are coming forward with out of this process is the beginning of a planning effort that will involve, we hope, everybody in this country. One of the first conclusions I reached is that there are not just experts in health care who sit in medical schools or other places around our country. There are 250 million of us who are experts in health care. All of us have some experience that we will bring to this national discussion. And what we want is a solution that solves the problems we face and gives people the security they deserve and they currently lack.