[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[September 5, 1992]
[Pages 1479-1483]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at Octoberfest in Painesville, Ohio
September 5, 1992

    Thank you all. What a great turnout. Thank you so very much. Thank 
you. Thank you very much, Mike. Thank you, Mike DeWine, our next United 
States Senator. Thank you very, very much for that welcome. Barbara and 
I are thrilled to be with you, glad to be with you and Fran. It's good 
to see Bob Bennett, our chairman; national committeewoman Martha Moore 
over here; and Bob Gardner, who's running for Congress. We want to see 
him elected. He's sitting over there. Of course, a very special thanks 
to the Bencics. I'll tell you, what great hosts they are, Steve, Gretel, 
Martin, Carl, Edith, and Linda. What a wonderful family. When I talk 
about family values I think of their discipline, their love of country, 
and their hard work.
    I bring greetings today from your Governor and from my very good 
friend, George Voinovich. What an outstanding Governor you have. He 
understands this country. You know, Steve told me that this is the first 
time that the Governor has missed this event since 1966; and the only 
reason he did it, because he's on a trade mission to Southeast Asia. 
He's opening up new markets for Ohio goods, and that means creating jobs 
for Ohio workers. I know he's going to miss all his bratwurst. I'm sure 
egg rolls taste great, but you can't put syrup on egg rolls. And 
Voinovich will find that out.
    Now, I don't know whether you all got to do what Barbara and I did, 
but I hope

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you've all seen Gretel's cake. But you may not know the story behind 
this enormous cake. I don't want to give away her age, but 50 years ago 
when she was a little girl, the war in Europe separated her from her 
mother. The Red Cross came to Gretel's rescue, so today she's returning 
the favor. Everyone who eats a piece of that cake is contributing food 
to help the people of south Florida and Louisiana. That is the American 
spirit, and Gretel, we're very grateful to you.
    While we're talking about the tragedy in the south, I want to salute 
today the contingents of Ohio's finest: the Ohio National Guard 179th 
Airlift Group, back from their mission of mercy to south Florida, one 
military person down there helping family after family. It is a 
wonderful concept, and we're proud of them all. Some of them served in 
that Desert Storm, too, and they did a first-class job there, believe 
me. And the country has not forgotten.
    So, in summary, it's great to be here in Painesville to help open up 
this year's Octoberfest. You've got the four basic food groups: pancakes 
and syrup, bratwurst and beer; and not one stick of broccoli anywhere in 
sight. This is a first-class----
    Well, this celebration has always been a celebration of cultures, 
but this year, in a very special way, it's a celebration of the spirit. 
We've witnessed a world of change. Across Europe, across continents, 
from Panama City to Prague, millions of men and women now celebrate a 
new birth of freedom.
    In Germany--and I think of that because of my friendship with 
Steve--and in Germany a wall has fallen. We should take great pride in 
knowing that the German people give us, the United States, great credit 
for standing up for their unity, for reunification of Germany, and for 
their freedom. We should be proud of that. For the people here today, 
people who came to America from the old country, who prayed for this day 
to come, the change we've witnessed, this change we've worked for, is a 
miracle come true.
    There are those, to quote the poet, who will say that the liberation 
of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They 
are right. It is the American dream. The American dream led to so much 
of this freedom around the world. Today, our challenge is to bring that 
spirit home, and Mike DeWine said, home from the towns your parents and 
grandparents were born in to this new world we call America, and to 
focus this great Nation on the new mission at hand.
    I know the main attraction this morning is pancakes--[laughter]--not 
politics. I salute not only the Republicans that are here, but I know 
there are many, many Democrats with us, and I'm very proud and pleased 
about that. But today I want to--and I've got to admit something, with 
the enthusiasm of this welcome, the temptation is for me to get up here 
and tear into the Governor of Arkansas, which I've got to do from time 
to time. But today, and I hope you'll bear with me, I want to just take 
a few minutes to talk to you about a serious matter, something I hope 
you'll be thinking about as you go into that voting booth on November 
3d, about the way we can change America's health care.
    So this isn't a rally speech. I want to talk to you, a little 
substance, on health care. I want to tell you first a story, a story 
about the McNally family from Dorset, Ohio. I first learned about them 
when Tiffany McNally wrote me at the White House 2 years ago. Four 
members of Tiffany's family have a rare blood disease, and Tiffany, who 
is adopted, was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Now, what if Mr. 
McNally were laid off, or worse still, lost his job? Or what if he found 
a better job, but the catch was no new health insurer would carry him or 
his family? He'd have to stay put and let that opportunity pass him by.
    Well, that is wrong. That's why we have to change the health care 
system in America. Health care reform isn't just about studies and cold 
statistics. It's about real worries and real lives. We have the answers 
to those worries.
    Let's face it, the problem is not the 
quality of health care. American health care is number one in the entire 
world. Since 1980, every life expectancy is up; infant mortality is 
down; death rates from heart disease down; deaths from stroke down. 
Right now, 200 million Americans have

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access to quality care system.
    But that high quality, high-tech medical care comes at an 
unacceptable price: An estimated 30 million Americans have no insurance 
at all, and millions more, like the McNallys, are afraid to change jobs 
for fear of losing the health insurance that they've got. All told, 
America's health care now tops $800 billion a year, and the cost is 
rising 2 to 3 times the rate of inflation. That's why health care reform 
is a key part of my agenda for economic security for every family in 
this country.
    This year, you watch, health care is going to be a Republican issue. 
We have a good program. My Democratic opponents are divided between two 
bad programs, both of which would put Government in charge of health 
care.
    The fact is we can reform the system without pushing our economy 
into intensive care. We must build on the strengths of the system that's 
given us the highest quality care in the world, on consumer choice, on 
innovation and state-of-the-art medicine, while controlling costs and 
expanding access. We need an efficient health care system built on 
competition to control costs, not Government control and rationing care. 
Above all, we need a health care system that gives all Americans real 
security, security that you can count on, the coverage you need. My plan 
meets every single one of these objectives.
    We can make health care more accessible by making health insurance 
more affordable. Take a family of two parents and two kids. Let's say 
the family's income, the total income is $13,000. They're working hard 
to make ends meet: low enough to put them at the poverty line, high 
enough to make them ineligible for Medicaid. Right now, that family may 
fall through the cracks, may not be covered through work, and may not be 
able to afford any health care coverage at all. Under my plan, that 
would change. This family would get a $3,750 health care credit, payable 
to the health care insurer of their choice.
    For middle-income individuals and families, all the way up to those 
making $80,000, my plan provides a health insurance tax credit or 
deduction that will ease the burden of health insurance costs.
    All told, this plan will bring health care coverage to almost 30 
million uninsured Americans and new help to nearly 95 million Americans 
that are struggling to meet health care's runaway costs.
    My plan provides security to families like the McNallys and then 
others that are caught up in what health care experts call ``job lock,'' 
the fear that because of what they call preexisting medical conditions, 
changing jobs will cost you and your family your health insurance. We're 
going to change all of that.
    My plan cuts runaway costs by making the system more efficient. And 
the key is something we call health insurance networks, pooling together 
individuals and businesses that too often can't afford to offer health 
insurance to their workers or that worry that one worker's illness or 
accident could drive everyone else's health insurance right through the 
roof. Insurance costs obey the law of large numbers: the larger the 
group being insured, the lower the cost per individual; the broader the 
risk is spread, the lower the administrative overhead.
    We're also going to cut health care costs by wringing out waste and 
excess in the present system. That's why we have targeted malpractice 
insurance for reform. You know this, and I know it, and every American 
knows it: High malpractice premiums mean higher doctors' bills, 
expensive, unnecessary tests, higher hospital costs, costs passed along 
not only to the patient but to every American taxpayer. Last year alone, 
legal costs inflated our doctors' bills by $20 billion. You shouldn't 
have to pay a lawyer when you go to the doctor.
    When health care costs total more than what we spend on our kids' 
education and our country's national defense combined--education and 
defense combined, health care costing more--even small changes can save 
us billions. If we made all the changes I've talked about, my plan would 
save nearly $400 billion in the next 4 years.
    I listen to the American people, and you want to know you've got 
insurance you can count on. I don't hear you calling for higher taxes to 
finance a Government takeover of our hospitals. I will never approve 
such a

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program.
    Yet that is exactly what some of my opponents want, to nationalize 
our health care system: put Government in control; let Government fix 
the prices; let Government ration the kind of care that people get and 
how much, what kind and when they'll get it. Go the Government route, 
and you know what we'll get: our health care system that combines the 
efficiency of the House of Representatives post office with the 
compassion of the KGB over there in Moscow.
    You know, we probably have to stop using that comparison. That 
comparison made a few people hot under the collar. I even got one letter 
from Russia telling me, ``Quit running down the KGB.'' [Laughter]
    Nationalize health care, and here's what we're in for: long waiting 
lines, lists for surgery, shortages of the high-tech equipment 
responsible for so many of the miracles of modern medicine. One example: 
Right now--you've got great facilities in Cleveland--but right now the 
Cleveland Clinic performs 10 coronary bypass surgeries--I see we've got 
a doctor from the clinic over here. [Laughter] Well, that's great. They 
perform 10 bypass surgeries a day; high tech, high quality, special, 
excellent surgery without any wait. But if you live across Lake Erie in 
Canada, the wait for coronary bypass surgery is up to 6 months. And 
that's not the kind of system that America wants or America needs.
    Then there's the cost. According to some studies, nationalized 
health care would mean a whopping $250 billion to $500 billion a year in 
new taxes. But you won't hear about higher taxes from the folks that are 
pushing that scheme. Just ask them about some of the side effects of 
their plan, and they just say, ``Take two aspirin; call me after the 
election.'' [Laughter]
    Well, this is what this election is about: who's got the good ideas, 
and who's got some lousy ones. We've the right ideas on health care. 
They have the wrong ones.
    My opponent backs a plan that goes by a different name, but in the 
end it takes you to the same place, nationalized health care. It's 
called ``play or pay.'' Listen for that one during the fall, ``play or 
pay.'' Here's what it means: Each employer must ``play,'' meaning shell 
out for insurance for employees, or ``pay,'' extract a payroll tax to 
finance Government health coverage.
    ``Play or pay'' will leave a lot of small businesses, those we are 
counting on to lead the recovery we need so desperately, with two crummy 
options: cut workers' wages to pay for mandated health care, or fire 
some workers and use the savings to cover the rest. According to an 
independent Urban Institute study, the ``pay'' part of this plan is no 
playground. It will require at least a 7-percent payroll tax. Now you 
small-business people here, you that have your sleeves rolled up running 
a restaurant or running a neighborhood store of some kind, think about 
that one.
    According to estimates, that kind of tax will cost this country 
700,000 jobs. For an employee earning $24,000 a year say, that payroll 
tax would mean $1,700 chopped right out of his paycheck. Higher prices, 
lower wages, lost job: Any way you look at it, that is the wrong 
prescription for America.
    So in the end, this ``play or pay'' is no different from 
nationalized health care. I'm tempted to call it ``pay and pay and pay 
again.'' It's an open invitation for employers to stop offering health 
benefits, throw the problem in the Government's lap, and dump millions 
of Americans that are working into a public plan like Medicaid.
    Right now, the cost of health care eats up 13 percent of all the 
goods and services that we produce. Do you really want to turn another 
huge chunk of our economy over to the Government? We can't afford to 
saddle ourselves with a health care cure that's worse than the disease, 
especially when we have a much better alternative.
    Now you can see why I believe health care is going to be a 
Republican issue this year. My opponent just isn't up to the mark on 
health care. A major newspaper that I don't quote too often these days, 
the New York Times--[laughter]--described Bill Clinton's attention to 
health care issues as, I quote, ``occasional.'' It's no surprise why. 
After having Governor Clinton for 12 years, one in four folks in 
Arkansas don't even have health insurance. Bill Clinton has promised 
he'll do for America what he's done for Arkansas. And my question is: 
Why

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would we let him?
    I want to start our program that's been sitting up on Capitol Hill 
for a while moving forward. Move forward on health reform. And Congress 
comes back from what they call a work period--they've been on vacation 
for a month and a half--next Tuesday. My opponents are divided. Even 
they know their proposals won't work. And I say, let Congress start by 
passing my small-business health care reforms to bring affordable, 
quality health care to millions of Americans who don't have it now. Make 
it a Labor Day present to the American worker and to the American family 
and get off your backsides and do something about it.
    If you think I'm a little frustrated with this gridlocked Congress, 
you are right. We ought to clean House.
    On this Labor Day weekend, we should remember what Jefferson called 
``the sum of good government,'' whether it respected the right of each 
one of us. Thomas Jefferson said, and I quote, ``. . . a wise and frugal 
government . . . shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread that 
it has earned.'' In Jefferson's day, doctors made house calls on 
horseback and life was short. Today, we have miracle medicines that can 
pluck us from death's door. But all this is of no matter if we can't 
afford it, not if it is reserved only for the privileged or the 
prosperous, not if it bankrupts the families of America. We must not 
take from the mouth of labor the bread that you have earned. We must fix 
the health care system of America.
    Once again, let me say I hope this hasn't been too long and too 
specific, but this strikes at the core and the well-being of every 
single family in America. There is no better place to talk about family 
and family values than it is right here with Steve and Gretel. To all of 
you, my thanks for this warm Ohio welcome. May God bless the greatest, 
freest country on the face of the Earth, the United States of America. 
Thank you all.

                    Note: The President spoke at 10 a.m. at the Lake 
                        County fairgrounds. A tape was not available for 
                        verification of the content of these remarks.