> > 1. I HAVE PROVIDED ONLY HEALTH-RELATED EXCERPTS FROM THE > FOLLOWING SPEECH. > > 2. 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 unsubscribe. **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. > > 3. I AM LOOKING FOR SUPPORTERS OF CALIFORNIA'S SINGLE-PAYER > HEALTH CARE INITIATIVE, ESPECIALLY 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 July 29, 1994 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT VIA SATELLITE TO UNITY '94 CONVENTION The Old Executive Office Building Washington, D. C. 1:20 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Connie. [...] I want to say a special word of congratulations, too, to the four minority journalist associations meeting together for the first time at this ground-breaking occasion. [...] Now, if you think six years was long enough to wait for a crime bill, then surely we can all agree that 60 years is far too long to wait before all Americans are guaranteed health security that can never be taken away. And health security, after all, is another crucial piece of the American Dream. Many people across our country know what it's like to dig and scrape all their lives to have the opportunities that you've been given and that you've earned. If you're like me, you actually know somebody without health insurance, or somebody at risk of losing their health insurance; you know somebody whose coverage is so meager, They avoid the doctor because it costs too much; you know people who are eager to work, but are trapped in the welfare system because it's the only way they can be assured of health care coverage for their children. We know these people because there are millions and millions of them out there -- people who struggle all their lives and play by the rules so that they can move forward, make progress, build security for their families only to be knocked over the ladder because of the pink slip, the catastrophic illness or a simple change in jobs. Indeed, we're moving in the wrong direction in our health care system. We're moving in the wrong direction when five million hardworking people, people with jobs, have lost their insurance in the last five years. Indeed, there's a smaller percentage of Americans insured today than there were 10 years ago. Ever since I began pushing for reform, I've made it clear that I was open to suggestions about how to achieve it. I've listened to concerns about the approach we originally proposed. And in response to what all kinds of Americans told us, I've agreed that we should modify that approach to make it simpler, less bureaucratic, more flexible, to do more for small business. But I remain committed, and I hope all of you will be committed, to giving every American health security, health that is guaranteed in law. We must have a system, I believe, where everyone shares responsibility -- a private system that works. That is certainly what the vast majority of Americans want, because today the hardworking middle-class Americans have that kind of coverage. Today, we've moved a step closer to health care security. The House Speaker Tom Foley and the Majority Leader Dick Gephardt said they would put forward a bill that achieves universal coverage and controls costs. They've met their goal and the goal of the American people in doing that. The House bill tells the American people that they have been heard. It is simpler, more flexible, more sensitive to small business. Gone is the bureaucracy they didn't like. Protections for small businesses have been strengthened. The bill is being phased in over a longer period of time. All Americans can keep their health plan and their doctor, and everybody will have coverage. We know from experiences across the country that this will work. We also know what doesn't work. We have seen in state after state that if you have insurance reforms that sound very good without expanding to universal coverage, what is usually going to happen is that the cost of insurance goes up and then people's options for health care, or even the number of people with health insurance, go down. But we also know, from looking at the example of Hawaii, that a private system of universal coverage in which employers and employees share responsibility for paying for private insurance premiums will not only control costs, but will also lead to greater coverage and a healthier population. We know it can be done. After all, in Hawaii, nearly everything is more expensive than any place else in the United States, but health care premiums for small business are 30 percent cheaper. Now, after 60 years of waiting, after 14 years in which costs have been going up dramatically, after a decade in which more and more Americans are losing coverage instead of getting coverage, and most of those who lose their insurance are working people, it's time to say to every American, if you change jobs, if you get sick, if you're laid off, if your child has a serious illness, you will always be able to afford health care as a citizen of the richest nation on Earth. Tomorrow I'm going to Independence, Missouri, to Harry Truman's hometown, to talk about health care. Harry Truman was a man of great decency, common sense and courage who believed that America would be much stronger if every American had health security. He was right. And he fought hard for it, though he didn't succeed. And because he was right, president after president, presidents of both parties have fought for that goal. Well, now it's up to us to fulfill their vision, and once again to renew the American Dream. It's time to build on our economic progress, build on the success of the crime bill, build on the progress we're making toward world peace and take this next critical step by passing real, substantive health care reform. That is the challenge our generation faces today. And it is our great opportunity. Thank you very much. (Applause.) [...] Q Greetings, Mr. President, from the Latino journalists in this country. The question is, if the health care reform package is not going to include undocumented workers, then how will we accomplish vaccinating all the children in the United States? (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Undocumented workers would not receive under our plan a health security card unless they had jobs anyway so they got it because they were in the workplace. But under our plan we have a significant expansion in funds for public health units which are open to all people today and where a lot of the vaccinations, for example, are done today. In my state over 80 percent of our children, including even upper middle-class children, are vaccinated through the public health units. So what we attempted to do to deal with this clear and present problem in the United States is to have a substantial increase in funding for public health and to do outreach so that we can vaccinate all the children and give basic health services to the children who are within the United States. [...] Q If Congress passes a bill that fails to include some mechanism for universal coverage, will you sign it or veto it -- yes or no? THE PRESIDENT: Well, what I have said is that we have to achieve universal coverage. The fight now is over how best to do it. And what I have to tell you is there is a big argument about whether it can be achieved in any way other than the way I have proposed. I will not sign a bill that I think makes a false promise to the people of the United States. We have got to sign a bill that achieves full coverage for the American people. If you don't do it, you can't contain costs, you can't give the breaks that small business needs over the long run. You can't achieve these things. So, yes, if Congress passes a bill that is different from the one I originally proposed, would I veto it? It depends on whether it achieves full coverage. If it is a credible attempt to do that, then I'm open to it. But it must be a credible, credible bill to do that. And that's the only thing I ask all of you to focus on now. Instead of letting the political rhetoric control this debate on health care, let us ask simply what will work. The other day -- let me just give you this in closing because this is very important, and if I don't achieve anything else today in this conversation that I've had with you, which I've enjoyed immensely, if I can achieve this -- agreement with you on this, it would be something profound to me. This is a very complicated issue, health care. I have studied it for years and years. But the more complex it gets, the more you understand that in the end it comes down to some simple choices. In every nation that has covered everybody quality health care can be provided at lower costs than in the United States, the only nation that doesn't cover everybody. So what I ask us all to do, as others come forward with their ideas and bend over backwards to avoid what I think we should do, which is to require all employers and employees to take responsibility through private insurance, let us ask: Will it work? We are going in the wrong direction; we are losing coverage and exploding cost. I am not going to sign a bill that I think perpetrates these problems on the American people. If someone else can figure out how to get universal coverage in a different way than I have achieved it, I would be open to that. I have not seen it yet. That's why the American Medical Association, the National Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, other physicians' groups, and huge numbers of businesses and consumer groups have endorsed our approach. So that's what we ought to be doing. We shouldn't be trying to get ourselves into word games now about what mechanism is appropriate. The only test is what works. And I know my plan will work if we share responsibility and cover everybody. Thank you very much. (Applause.) END 1:48 P.M. EDT