    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [April 22, 1993]
    [Pages 480-481]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Presenting the American Cancer Society Courage Awards and an
    Exchange With Reporters
    April 22, 1993

        The President. Ladies and gentlemen, these are the annual American
    Cancer Society Courage Awards. And the certificate salutes the two
    people I'll present the awards to for personal courage in the battle
    against cancer and for a message of hope and inspiration given to all
    Americans in the fight for life and health.
        We have here to my right Dr. Reginald Ho, the president of the
    American Cancer Society; Stanley Shmichkiss, who is the chairman of the
    board of the Cancer Society; Dr. John Seffrin, the national executive
    vice president and chief staff officer of the Cancer Society.
        The young gentleman to my right is Mr. Jeremy Fleury, who is here
    with his mother, Sharon. And I want to tell you a little about him. He
    is 13, same age as my daughter. He's undergone treatment for non-
    Hodgkin's lymphoma way back in 1989, and since then he's been in
    clinical remission. He's a very brave young man, and he's from Clovis,
    New Mexico.
        So I want to give you this. I'll let you hold it so everyone can see
    it.
        And further to the left is Matilda Goodridge,

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    from New York, New York, who has been enrolled since 1981 in the Breast
    Examination Center of Harlem, located at the Harlem Hospital, which I
    have visited. She kept annual visits for a mammogram and in 1991 was
    diagnosed with a localized breast cancer. She's undergone surgery and
    treatment, and she's doing quite well. And I want to recognize her.
        Both these folks have had a lot of personal difficulties because of
    the absence of medical coverage and some other economic problems, and
    they're carrying on with a lot of real courage. I also want to
    compliment Ms. Goodridge, as the son of a breast cancer survivor, for
    being enrolled in the breast examination program for over a decade. I
    think that example will help to save the lives of many women in this
    country who will see this ceremony recorded in the news media.
        So I congratulate both of you. Let me give this to you. And thank
    you very much for being here.

    [At this point, the President presented the awards.]

        If I might point out, this young man and his mother--if she remains
    unemployed, they can be covered through Medicaid. But if she were to
    take another job, it would be very difficult, because of his treatment
    and past condition, even though he's in remission, for her to get a job
    with health insurance.
        If we can pass reforms which will guarantee coverage to all
    Americans and which will provide a broad-based community base for any
    insurance against risks so that there will be no economic advantage or
    disadvantage to employers for hiring the parents or the people who
    suffer from disease, this country will be a long way down the road
    toward dealing with this problem. And I think that that clearly will be
    a part of the health program that we come out with, something that will
    guarantee coverage to all Americans and will enable people to leave
    their jobs to care for sick family members and then resume employment
    when possible without having the employer suffer economically crippling
    consequences or forcing the people to choose between staying unemployed
    to get Government health care or taking a job and losing health
    coverage.

    Health Care Reform

        Q. Mr. President, have you decided on a way to finance health care
    reform? I mean, you're moving toward a deadline now. Have you made any
    decisions?
        The President. We're moving toward a deadline, and we'll have the
    details for you. I've already told--those things will be in the program.
    Whatever options we decide, we'll do that.
        Q. When do you think you'll make your mind up?
        The President. Well, we're still well within our deadline. I think
    that--because of my father-in-law's illness my wife was out of pocket
    for about 3 weeks, and so we're going to be pushed back a little bit off
    the 100 days. But we're working very hard. I spent many, many hours on
    this myself and, indeed, this afternoon will be spending another 2\1/2\
    hours on it. So I think we're pretty well on schedule.

    Bosnia

        Q. [Inaudible]--Elie Wiesel's comments about Bosnia this morning,
    sir, as a challenge to you personally?
        The President. I think it was a challenge to the United States and
    to me and to the West to take further initiatives in Bosnia. And I
    accepted it as such.
        I was eager to have a few moments to speak with Elie Wiesel after
    the ceremony. We went back into a holding room, and I introduced him to
    my wife and my daughter, who wanted very much to meet him. And then we
    sat and talked for a while. We may talk again. But I welcomed his
    remarks this morning.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:30 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these
    remarks.