    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [September 2, 1993]
    [Pages 1431-1432]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to Nobel Prize Recipients and an Exchange With Reporters
    September 2, 1993

        The President. Ladies and gentlemen, I am here this afternoon to
    honor these winners of the 1992 Nobel Prize. I take great pride in their
    being recognized in their lifelong efforts to contribute to science and
    technology and to better the human condition.
        Dr. Gary Becker received the Nobel Prize in Economic Science for his
    expansion of economic analysis to aspects of human behavior that had not
    before been analyzed with economic principles of our other social
    science disciplines. For example, in the 1950's, Dr. Becker made a
    groundbreaking proposal by concluding that racial and ethnic bias could
    exist only where markets were not fully competitive. Dr. Becker
    currently is a professor at the University of Chicago. He is to my
    immediate left.
        To my right are Dr. Edmond Fisher and Dr. Edwin Krebs. They are
    joint winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine. In the
    1950's they discovered a cellular regulatory mechanism that controls a
    variety of metabolic processes. The Nobel selection committee stated
    that this discovery, and I quote, ``concerns almost all processes
    important to life and opened up one of the most active areas of
    scientific research.'' Dr. Fisher and Dr. Krebs are professors at the
    University of Washington in Seattle.
        To my left, Dr. Rudolph Marcus received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry
    for his mathematical analysis of the cause and effect of electronic
    changes among molecules. The Nobel committee said that this work helped
    to explain many complicated chemical reactions, including
    photosynthesis, that are fundamental to life's processes. Dr. Marcus
    currently is a professor at the California Institute of Technology. He
    told me that it took 20 years to actually prove the theories that he
    developed. And I told him that I was beginning to think that being
    President was more and more like being a scientist. [Laughter]
        We are very proud of these Nobel laureates. I salute their successes
    and their contributions, not only as President but clearly on behalf of
    all the American people. And I thank them and their spouses for coming
    to the White House today.
        Thank you very much.
        Do you, any of you, want to give a speech?
        Q. What does it feel like to win a Nobel Prize?
        Edwin Krebs. A big surprise.
        Q. [Inaudible]--better if it could be your economic policies, Mr.
    President.
        The President. You got me, but at least it's more people-centered.

    [[Page 1432]]

    Health Care Reform

        Q. Might you ask Dr. Becker whether your health care plans are
    economically feasible?
        The President. He probably wants to read it first.
        Gary Becker. I haven't seen them yet. I'm looking forward to it. But
    clearly we need a great deal of reform in the health care area. So I'm
    looking forward with anticipation to see what they're like.
        Q. Will a sin tax be part of that, sir----
        Q. ----my segue.
        The President. I'm against sin, aren't you? [Laughter]
        Let me say one thing, since you asked Dr. Becker the question. There
    has been an assumption in many of the business articles about the health
    care plan that it was necessary because too many people don't have
    health insurance and in any given 2- or 3-year period about one in five
    or one in four Americans will be without it. But the assumption is that
    it will be a job drain. That assumes that we will pile costs on top of
    what is already the most expensive system in the world by a good long
    ways.
        I believe that this will be a job generator if we implement it
    sensibly and gradually and over time we slow the rate of growth of
    health care costs. Right now we have to compete with other countries
    that are spending under 9 percent of their income on health care and
    covering everyone with outcomes and life expectancy and health that are
    as good or better than ours, and we're over 14 percent. If we don't
    change, we'll be up to 19 percent by the end of the decade without
    covering everybody and with no improvements in the present problem.
        So my judgment is that if we do this right, it will be a job
    creator. So I think you have two things here, we have better health care
    and more security for American families and a better economic
    environment over the long run.
        I've already talked more than I meant to. Maybe I'll win a Nobel
    Prize for that theory. [Laughter]
        Q. Is the assumption about costs on top incorrect, Mr. President?
        The President. I don't know what the assumption is.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:11 p.m. in the Blue Room at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these
    remarks.