    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [October 21, 1993]
    [Pages 1791-1792]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Exchange With Reporters on Health Care Reform
    October 21, 1993

        Q. Mr. President, why is it taking you so long to draft the health
    care legislation?

        The President. The legislation has been drafted. What we have to
    do--and let me say we're doing something that no administration, as far
    as I know, has ever done before. But the reason that we had to delay
    introducing it is to go back and do two more runs at higher inflation
    rates, because most people believe that inflation will be a little bit
    higher because economic growth has come back into the economy.

        So we originally ran all the numbers at a 2.7 inflation rate, which
    was what we were asked to do, what was recommended by the Congressional
    Budget Office. We now went back, after consulting with our folks, and
    ran it at a 3.5 percent inflation rate, and then we went back and
    doublechecked all the numbers with all the actuaries. So unlike a lot of
    the other bills, we actually have, you will see when the bill comes up,
    extremely detailed budgetary estimates about which part will cost how
    much and how it all works.

        So essentially, there were no problems in drafting or the policy so
    much as it was trying to make sure that we had the numbers right. Also,
    the proposal will increase the reserve fund as a hedge in case, for
    example, the small business discounts cost more than we thought. We
    decided to go back to make the Congress and the country feel better
    about the costs to increase the reserve fund. So just working out the
    dollars is what has taken all the time, because we wanted to have good
    numbers ready for them when we came back.

        Q. When will it be ready? When will it be ready?

        The President. Oh, I think they're going to put it in early next
    week sometime.

    [[Page 1792]]

        Q. Next week?
        The President. Yes.
        Q. The 75-cent cigarette tax is final?
        The President. That's what will be in the bill.

    Note: The exchange began at approximately 11:54 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt
    Washington Hotel. A tape was not available for verification of the
    content of this exchange.