[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[July 20, 1994]
[Pages 1290-1291]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters on Health Care Reform
July 20, 1994

    The President. Let me begin by thanking the Democratic leadership 
for coming today and saying we have a very active several weeks ahead of 
us in this session of Congress with action pending on health care, on 
the crime bill, on GATT, with bills pending on campaign finance reform 
and lobby reform and several other things. We're going to have a lot or 
work on our hands.
    I would like to restate a few things about health care in light of 
the meeting with the Governors yesterday. First of all, my goal is 
universal coverage. It is the only goal that works for ordinary 
Americans. I have always said, from the time I presented my bill, that I 
was flexible

[[Page 1291]]

on how to get universal coverage and would be willing to compromise on 
that. I was encouraged that the Senate Minority Leader said yesterday 
that he was willing to work every day in August, September, and October 
if necessary to get a good health care bill.
    But let me make the main point I was trying to make yesterday. 
Whatever we do must work for ordinary Americans. We now have a lot of 
evidence that if we tinker around with the system and don't try to do 
something comprehensive, we could actually make it worse for ordinary 
Americans. We could increase the cost to middle class Americans and 
decrease coverage.
    I am very encouraged that today the American Medical Association and 
the AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, joined the AFL-
CIO in coming out for universal coverage and shared responsibility 
between the employers and the employees. That's a very good sign that 
they have analyzed this in the same way that we have. And I hope it will 
contribute to the debate. I believe it will. They joined, as you know, 
the heads of virtually every medical school in America, the Nurses 
Association and other doctors' associations, thousands of small business 
people.
    So, we have to do something that works. That's going to be my bottom 
line. Let's don't do something that won't work.
    Q. Mr. President, the confusion seems to be over how you define 
universal coverage.
    The President. I don't think that's right. The only definitional 
issues that arose in the Congress were definitional issues that some 
people around this table were involved in on the so-called trigger 
mechanism, what level of coverage that you're making progress for 
universal coverage would trigger further action and what wouldn't. 
That's something that will be up to the congressional people to work 
out.
    The point I was trying to make yesterday is that we have no way of 
knowing, we have no evidence that there is any available and affordable 
way to get close to 100 percent of coverage without some sort of 
requirement that involves everybody paying. That's the point I was 
attempting to make yesterday, but I'm willing to listen if somebody's 
got another idea that will work. We mustn't do something that doesn't 
work.
    We have this Catholic Health Association study which shows 
conclusively that if you just try to do insurance reforms you could wind 
up with higher rates for middle class people at lower levels of 
coverage. That is the essence. But let's do something that works for 
ordinary Americans.
    Q. But 95 percent would still leave millions of Americans uninsured, 
and don't you have the same problem then, if they are uninsured, that 
there will be the cost shifting that you----
    The President. No one ever talked about a law. There's never been a 
suggestion that we have a law which would set that as a goal. That 
number only came up in the context of the so-called trigger bill. Nobody 
did that. And no one has yet found a way to do that without a law that 
says ``universal coverage.'' The point I made yesterday is we have 
universal social security, but about 2 percent somehow don't get 
covered. We have universal school attendance laws in every State in the 
country, but there are always a couple of percent of the people that 
fall through the cracks. [Inaudible]--write it into law to get this.
    Q. Are you sorry----
    The President. No. I'm sorry that after all my skills and efforts at 
communicating, the point I really made yesterday somehow didn't get 
through, which is that we now have the evidence of the States and 
another study which shows that the opposing bills, the alternative 
bills, will not work. That is the issue. We must do something that 
works.
    Q. Are you considering working through August, September, October?
    The Vice President. Why are you interested, Helen [Helen Thomas, 
United Press International]? [Laughter]
    The President. Let me just say this. I'm sure--Senator Dole offered 
that yesterday, and I would gladly accept. Of course, I'm sure it's not 
just up to him and to me. But I think it's worth it for the American 
people to get a good health bill.

Note: The President spoke at 9:20 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House, prior to a meeting with congressional leaders. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of these remarks.