> > 1. REMEMBER: *DO NOT* WRITE A *REPLY* TO ANY MESSAGE FROM > LIST.HEALTHPLAN; IT WILL GO TO THE PROGRAM THAT HANDLES > THE LIST AND WON'T BE READ. INSTEAD, ON LIST-RELATED > MATTERS, SEND NEW EMAIL TO ME: sfreedkin@igc.apc.org > MAKE SURE THE SUBJECT LINE OF YOUR MESSAGE HEADER IS THE > APPROPRIATE ONE FROM THE LIST SHOWN BELOW. (IF YOU DON'T > KNOW HOW TO SET THE SUBJECT LINE ASK YOUR LOCAL SYSTEM > ADMINISTRATOR.) > REMOVE LIST.HEALTHPLAN > -- to cancel your subscription. > **NOTE: "unsubscribe" won't work!** > EDIT LIST.HEALTHPLAN > -- to change your address. In the message body put: > REMOVE: > ADD: (Name in Parentheses) > SUBSCRIBE LIST.HEALTHPLAN > -- to subscribe (for someone who doesn't already) > SEND WELCOME LTR LIST.HEALTHPLAN > -- for complete LIST.HEALTHPLAN instructions > QUERY LIST.HEALTHPLAN > -- for any other questions regarding the list. > > 2. THE FOLLOWING IS EXCERPTED. PORTIONS THAT DO NOT REFER > TO HEALTH-CARE REFORM HAVE BEEN OMITTED. > > 3. I AM LOOKING FOR SUPPORTERS OF CALIFORNIA'S SINGLE-PAYER > HEALTH CARE INITIATIVE WHO LIVE/WORK IN SANTA BARBARA AND > VENTURA COUNTIES, CA. IF THAT'S YOU, PLEASE EMAIL ME, > USING THE SUBJECT: SINGLE PAYER SUPPORTER. THANKS! > > -- STEVE FREEDKIN > > THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release August 10, 1994 PRESS BRIEFING BY DEE DEE MYERS The Briefing Room 2:02 P.M. EDT MS. MYERS: I don't have any major announcements. I would just point out that the AARP has endorsed both the Mitchell and Gephardt bills today, which is welcome news. And certainly, we'll continue to fight for both those in each of their respective Houses. Q Unlike the First Lady, who seemed to be saying that the Mitchell bill is untested and the Gephardt bill at least could be counted on to provide universal coverage -- can you explain her position on this? MS. MYERS: I think that the First Lady has made her position on this very clear. I would refer you back to the transcript. But the First Lady has consistently said that she supports both the Gephardt and the Mitchell bills. Both bills get you to universal care. They go about it in slightly different ways, but the bottom line is that each achieves universal care. The Mitchell bill includes an insurance policy in the employer mandate that if you don't get to 95 percent coverage by the year 2000 an employer mandate will kick in and guarantee that you get to universal coverage. I think she's been very consistent on that. She supports both bills, as does the President, and they'll fight for passage of both bills in their respective Houses. [...] Q The First Lady was talking about the fact that there's too much hatred on the air and in the mails in one of her radio interviews today. Have the President and Mrs. Clinton been getting in inordinate amount of hate mail in connection with the health care debate, and can you characterize -- MS. MYERS: As you know, the President and First Lady get an inordinate amount of mail with reference generally -- particularly with reference to health care. And I don't know how it breaks down positive to negative. It has consistently been overwhelmingly positive, but I think certainly there has been an element of very negative pieces in that. And I think the First Lady spoke to that a bit today in her radio interviews. I think one of the things that has concerned both the President and the First Lady is that the level of debate has, at times, deteriorated into distortion and name-calling and other things that are not productive. They don't deal with the issues at hand. The President really would like this to focus on what's in the best interest of the country, and it doesn't always work out that way. And I think that's something that he has, at times, expressed concern about, and the First Lady has expressed concern about. Q Is she bothered by it -- MS. MYERS: Again, I think she is concerned about it, and I do think both the President and the First Lady take it seriously. It was something the President talked about as far back as the campaign, that too often people are talking past each other and not working toward common solutions, but rather toward bitter, partisan and often angry name-calling and shouting. And one of the things that he sought to do was to recreate the bonds of community in this country, and I think he's going to continue to work at that throughout his presidency. Q Dee Dee, the First Lady is also singling out for criticism Dole and Gramm. Does that signal the President's throwing up his hands, assuming there is no opportunity for a bipartisan health care reform bill? MS. MYERS: No. I think particularly in the case of Senator Gramm, I think he's trying to attach descriptions to both health care bills that aren't appropriate. Neither the Gephardt bill or the Mitchell bill is socialized medicine. Those are the same kinds of hyperbolic labels people tried to attach to Medicare. And I think it's interesting that Senator Gramm won't say that he's for abolishing Medicare 30 years after the fact, when the same kinds of language, the same kinds of charges or used to describe what possible effects Medicare would be, that it was socialized medicine. It's not. I think that's the point the First Lady has made. More broadly, I think the President still hopes to get a bipartisan bill. He has continually reached out and tried to address the concerns of both Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate. And every time he's moved toward them by moving from mandatory to voluntary alliances, by making the bill less bureaucratic, by starting with market reforms, they've moved away from him. That concerns him. That concerns the First Lady. That concerns the members of Congress who really want to see health reform passed this year. But that doesn't mean the President is going to stop trying. He thinks a bipartisan bill would be in the best interest of this country. At the same time, if the Republicans are going to continue to play politics, he'll try any other way to get the bill passed. Q Dee Dee, Senator Danforth, speaking for himself and several others who have tried to work with the White House, said that he hadn't moved an inch on this and that the charge that he and other Republicans have moved away is not true, and that it's the White House that is going to have to come to them. What do you say to that? MS. MYERS: I think I just answered that. I think the President has moved toward them -- Q You answered it in regards to Senator Gramm. MS. MYERS: No, it wasn't toward Gramm. It's toward Republicans generally. The President has continually made changes in his bill. He's continually tried to address the concerns of all the parties involved. He's continually tried to find a bill that could have broad bipartisan support. But the -- and the President started this debate by putting forward a very specific bill. Senator Mitchell has put forward a very specific bill. Congressman Gephardt has put forward a very specific bill, and I think we're still waiting for the Republican alternatives in bill form. Where are they? Where are their plans? I think it would be helpful to the debate if they would put up reasonable alternatives, not just on health care, but on a number of other issues. Q Do you know what Senator Packwood said on the floor about that today? MS. MYERS: It did not. Q That they submitted the Republican alternative in June -- MS. MYERS: I don't think it was -- Q to get it into bill form in June and that had to be delayed because, first -- well, most recently, the Majority Leader's bill was inserted and taken ahead of it. And, in fact, the less recent bill was converted by the staff up there into bill form first. He suggested that to the accusation that you made, which had been made before by Senator Mitchell, was hypocrisy. MS. MYERS: I think this debate has been going on for 18 months. The Republicans across the spectrum have to continually criticize all the Democratic efforts and have continually failed to produce their own alternatives in bill form. [...] Q You have tended to play down reports that Mrs. Clinton was somehow off the reservation by expressing a preference for the Gephardt bill over the Mitchell bill, said this morning that she supports both as does the President. But on page five of the transcript that you've provided here, she was asked why should Democrats in the House from marginal districts or Southern districts who are being hammered on the employer mandate question be for the Gephardt bill when the Mitchell phase-in bill is also acceptable. She says in her response according to the transcript that if the health care debate is conveyed in understandable terms to people and they really know what's at stake, there will be increasing support for doing something sooner instead of later and for doing the hard decisions now and not postponing them. Why should we not read that as her preference for doing just that -- doing the hard decisions now meaning putting the employer mandate up front? MS. MYERS: Well, I think she's repeatedly said that she supports both bills, one. Two, CBO took a look at Senator Mitchell's bill and said they expect that he would get to 95 percent by 1997 which is very quickly moving on the right track, moving toward universal coverage. Again, should that fail to happen there are insurance policies in place in the form of an employer mandate. I think the First Lady believes that it is incredibly important to get to universal and that the House and the Senate should guarantee that their versions of the bill include a means for getting to universal. But again, I think she's gone out of her way not to express a preference but to say that either bill is acceptable. They provide two different routes to getting to the same destination and that the House and Senate should work to pass some version of each. Q She also talked in the same transcript in the line just above about it being a very compelling political argument for House members in particular who have to run every two years to pass something that they can go home and say, I voted for something that takes effect right away. And, in fact, I think that's her term -- "a very strong and compelling political argument, particularly for House members. So results are important." MS. MYERS: I think that that's a good argument -- that if you're a House member and you vote for a bill that moves more quickly, you can certainly make that case when you go home. That is not a case against the Mitchell, and it's not a case that says one bill is acceptable and the other is not. Q It is not a case for the Gephardt bill? MS. MYERS: It's not a case against -- it's not a case against the Mitchell bill. There are things in the Mitchell bill that the First Lady would certainly advocate. I do not think that that is grounds to say that the First Lady expressed one bill was acceptable and one wasn't. She has repeatedly, if you read that whole transcript, she goes out of her way to say that both bills are acceptable. They have different components in them. She discussed some of the components of one bill that perhaps are not in the other bill. She's, as you know, intimately familiar with the details of these. And I think she'll continue to talk about it in detail. [...] Q Dee Dee, do you expect we'll see the President any more than we have in the last few days the next week or so? Or are we going to see him once a day -- MS. MYERS: I think it will depend on circumstances. I think some days you may see him more, some days you may see him less. But I think, as I have said earlier today, that there will be fewer photo opportunities, and over the long run, more formal news conferences and other opportunities for, I think, more sustained dialogue. I think today he sat down with some reporters from business news organizations and had a sort of more lengthy conversation about health care and its effect on business. I think you can look for more forums like that. Q You talked about a possible health care event tomorrow, which you had not yet announced. Are you there yet? MS. MYERS: No. I think the one was for today and we ended up talking with the business reporters. I don't think there are any public events for tomorrow. [...] THE PRESS: Thank you. END 2:40 P.M. EDT