[FOLLOWING IS THE PERIODIC BRIEFING SENT BY THE WHITE HOUSE TO ITS OFFICIALS AND OTHER SUPPORTERS OF ITS HEALTH-CARE REFORM PLAN. THIS PERIODIC DOCUMENT GIVES A GLIMPSE OF THE ADMINISTRATION'S EFFORTS TO PROMOTE ITS HEALTH PLAN. IF YOU DO NOT CARE TO READ IT, NOTE THAT IT WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE SUBJECT: Health Care Reform Today , SO YOU CAN EASILY SKIP READING IT. -- Steve Freedkin, list administrator] The White House Health Care Reform Today October 27, 1993 * Today, President Clinton will introduce the most detailed, comprehensive, and responsible health care reform proposal ever offered. No other proposal matches the President's as a clear and specific plan for action. This detailed plan will allow an honest debate and will allow the American people to judge how it will help their families. * Our national goal must be health security --- to guarantee every American comprehensive health benefits that can never be taken away. The debate must be wide-ranging. The goal is non-negotiable. President Clinton's Health Security Plan guarantees every American comprehensive benefits that can never be taken away, preserving quality and choice -- without turning the system over to the government. Universal coverage must be real: this isn't just about access -- people have universal access today if they have enough money, and millions of Americans do not. Comprehensive benefits must mean a specific set of benefits clearly defined up front, not a bare bones package created after legislation is passed and threatened by cuts. * The President has made changes in the plan mainly in two areas: first, to ensure the most responsible financing and second, to minimize regulation in a health care system that relies on the private sector. The President's plan relies on the most conservative estimates and responsible financing, ensuring that we achieve savings to finance reforms. Changes streamline bureaucracy and limit regulation to ensure that this is a system rooted in the private sector that responds to market forces. * Many who criticize details of the President's plan do so in good faith. They share a commitment to reform and health insurance coverage for every American. But many opponents are simply trying to protect their pocketbooks and position in the current health care system. The President's plan has earned the support of seniors, pediatricians, family doctors and nurses, pharmacists, consumer advocates, and many non-profit hospitals who understand the importance of providing every American comprehensive benefits that can never be taken away. A majority of Americans support the plan but want more information. But there's a different type of opposition: those concerned only with protecting the status quo and their special interests. Already, even before the plan was finished, the Health Insurance Association of America produced paid TV advertising attacking and distorting the plan. * The President's plan is based on a number of principles that distinguish his approach: security, simplicity, savings, quality, choice, and responsibility, to ensure that we preserve what works and change what doesn't in our current health care system. Security -- comprehensive benefits that can never be taken away. Simplicity -- eliminating paperwork and bureaucracy and creating a single form. Savings -- controlling health care costs. Quality -- making the world's best care better. Choice -- preserving your right to choose your doctor and expanding choice of plans. Responsibility -- every American assumes responsibility to bring an out-of-control system under control and put funding on a fair and responsible basis.