    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [August 1, 1994]
    [Pages 1403-1405]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1403]]

    Remarks at a Health Care Rally in Jersey City, New Jersey
    August 1, 1994

        Thank you. Mr. McEntee, Mr. Sombrotto, Mr. Rivera, Congressman
    Torricelli, Congressman Klein, Congressman Menendez, to all those who
    entertained us and all those who have come here, even those who have
    come here who disagree with us--I have a few questions I want to ask
    them in a minute.
        You know, I hear a lot of talk today about what constitutes real
    patriotism, what constitutes being a real American, characterizations of
    what we're trying to do with health care. I think Carolyn is a real
    American, and what is their answer to her? Just before I came over here
    I met the Agneses. He's a barber. He told me how much his health care
    had gone up and that his business might go down. What is the chanters'
    answer to him? Just before I came over here I met a woman named Jean
    McCabe, whose health insurance premiums got almost up to $10,000. And
    she wrote us a letter and said, ``Am I going to have to move to Canada
    or Germany or someplace where I can find somebody who will treat me like
    a decent citizen?'' What is their answer to her? I met Michael and
    Joanne Britt. He's a truck driver; she's been sick. Their insurance cost
    them so much, they were living in a house trailer, and they thought they
    would never be able to buy a home, never set aside any money for
    retirement because they couldn't afford their health care, in this, a
    country that's supposed to be a middle class country that rewards work
    and family and faith and playing by the rules. What is their answer to
    her?
        I ran for President, my fellow Americans, for some pretty basic
    reasons. I thought this country was going in the wrong direction. I
    thought we were in danger of losing the American dream as we went to the
    21st century. And I thought we could do something about it. And all the
    yellers and shouters in the world will not change the basic facts. When
    I became President, the deficit was going up; now it's going down. The
    economy was going down, and now it's going up.
        Years and years and years, politicians in Washington just talked
    about things, and now we are doing things. It took 7 years and two
    vetoes to pass the family leave law to give hard-working middle class
    people the guarantee that if they had to take a little time off, they
    wouldn't lose their jobs if it was for their children or their parents.
    It took 7 years to pass the Brady bill, but now it's keeping people
    alive by checking the backgrounds of people before they get guns.
        I heard all that talk about our economic program. Many of the same
    people last year were saying, ``You pass the President's economic
    program, it's nothing but a big tax increase; it will collapse the
    economy.'' Well, here's what it did.
        It had $255 billion in spending cuts. It had tax cuts for 15 million
    working Americans to keep them at work and off of welfare, including
    350,000 New Jersey families. It asked the wealthiest 1\1/2\ percent to
    pay a tax increase, and it reduced the Federal Government--I hear all
    the time the other side saying we hate big Government. Well, we
    Democrats passed a budget that will give you the smallest Federal
    Government since John Kennedy was President, three years of deficit
    reduction for the first time since Harry Truman was President, and
    produced 3.8 million new jobs and a 1\1/2\ percent unemployment rate
    drop and the largest number of new businesses formed in any year since
    World War II. That is what we say to the naysayers, a Government that
    works for ordinary Americans again.
        For 6 years I heard them talking about crime in Washington and how
    tough they were on crime, except nothing ever happened. But last week,
    after 6 years and this problem plaguing American families, what
    happened? The Congress decided to send for a final vote the toughest,
    smartest crime bill in the history of the country: a 20-percent increase
    in the number of police officers, 100,000 more in the United States;
    ``three strikes and you're out''; an assault weapons ban like you had
    here in New Jersey that you had to fight like crazy to keep; a bill

    [[Page 1404]]

    that makes it illegal for young people to have handguns unless they're
    under the supervision of adults; money to keep our schools safer, so our
    kids don't have to duck under their desks to dodge bullets; and more
    money to give our young people something to say yes to, summer jobs,
    midnight basketball, drug treatment programs, the chance to build a
    better life. That is what we are producing for middle class America to
    build a better country.
        And now, now we come to health care. I don't know if you saw this,
    but Saturday, Hillary and I went down to Independence, Missouri, to
    President Truman's hometown, with the Vice President and Mrs. Gore. And
    the Governor of Missouri got up, and he read all these things. He said,
    ``Just listen to what they're saying about our President. They're saying
    he wants socialized medicine. They're saying he's going to take health
    care away from the American people. They're saying he's going to mess it
    up.'' He went through all these quotes, and then he said, ``This is not
    what they said about President Clinton; this is what they said 50 years
    ago about President Truman.'' The lines are still the same, and the
    objective is still the same. I am trying to get health care for ordinary
    American people.
        Let me tell you something, folks. When I presented our plan, I went
    all around the country and I listened to what people said. They said,
    ``We want you to change it some, make it less bureaucratic, provide more
    flexibility, give bigger breaks to small business, take some more time
    to phase it in.'' And we said we would do that. Those changes have been
    made. But one thing we shouldn't change is whether America at long last
    will join the ranks of all the other advanced countries in the world and
    provide health care for all the middle class working people in the
    United States.
        If you're on welfare, you have health care. If you're in jail, you
    have health care. If you're rich, you have health care. If you're a
    politician, you've got it. The only people who can lose it are working
    people. Over 80 percent of the people in the United States without
    health insurance work for a living every day. And it is not right.
        And let me tell you this. I say this to all the people who come here
    to disagree with us in good faith. How do you explain the fact that all
    of our competitors cover their people? How do you explain the fact that,
    while that is happening, in the last 5 years in America, there are now 5
    million people in this country today who don't have health insurance who
    had it 5 years ago, that New Jersey has had almost a 50-percent increase
    in the number of people without health insurance in the last 5 years?
    Almost one million people in New Jersey alone don't have it. What is
    their answer? I have given you my answer. Let's ask the American people
    to give health insurance to everybody.
        Let me say one other thing. I'm a big one on getting beyond all this
    slogan and name-calling and just asking what works. In the State of
    Hawaii, for the last 20 years in Hawaii, employers and employees have
    had the responsibility to make sure that everybody had health insurance.
    Now, if you've ever been to Hawaii, you know that everything in the
    entire State of Hawaii is more expensive than it is here because it's
    way out there in the ocean. That is, everything except one thing: health
    insurance. It is 30 percent cheaper in Hawaii than it is in the United
    States, on the average. The healthy population is greater. The infant
    mortality rate is down. And small business is booming because they can
    all afford health care. And that's what I want to do for the United
    States, what we know will work.
        What is the answer of those who say, ``We don't like what they did
    in Hawaii; we don't want cheaper health insurance; we don't want
    healthier people. We want people to be able to get a free ride and stick
    the taxpayer with what happens. It's all right with us if these country
    hospitals close down in places like my State and if Dennis Rivera's
    workers can't afford to take care of all the people without health
    insurance.'' What is their answer? It is time for the shoe to be on the
    other foot. I have been out here for one year saying, let's give health
    care to the American people.
        Now this time who advocates shared responsibility? Who in America
    says everybody ought to have health insurance? Well, the American
    Association of Retired People, all these folks in the unions who already
    have health care, they're doing it for the rest of Americans, spending
    your money. And I thank you for that. But for the first time, for the
    first time ever, we have the nurses association, the medical
    association, the pediatricians, the children's doctors association, the
    family doctors association, 600,000 small businesses who provide health
    care for their workers, all of them say, ``If everybody did it we could
    make this a healthier, better,

    [[Page 1405]]

    stronger country, and we would lower health care costs for tens of
    millions of Americans.'' That's what we're here for. That's what I want
    you to fight for. That's what I want Congress to vote for.
        My fellow Americans, this decision rests no longer in my hands
    alone. The Congress has been under enormous pressure. There has been
    enormous disinformation out there. You've got people here holding up
    signs saying ``No Socialized Medicine.'' What does our plan require?
    Everybody to buy private insurance. Most of them have parents on
    Medicare. You want to repeal Medicare, ma'am? Do you think that's
    socialized medicine? I don't. Medicare, however, is paid for by all of
    us and by our employers. And they take care of the elderly people of
    this country; nobody wants to repeal it.
        Our plan gives you your choice of doctors. You keep your doctor. You
    make your decision. It's private insurance. It's just what Hawaii has
    done. And there are people who say, ``Don't ration health care.'' You
    talk to anybody who's had their insurance cut back or their premiums up
    or their deductibles increased. You talk to any doctor who's had to hire
    somebody just to call the insurance companies to get them to pay the
    bill. We are rationing health care today; 39 million Americans don't
    have it. We are losing ground.
        There are millions and millions of people who are holding on by
    their fingernails with worse and worse policies. What I want to do is
    stop rationing health care, avoid socialized medicine, give good, old-
    fashioned private American health care to every American working family.
    That's what we're trying to do. And all the disinformation in the world
    won't change it.
        So I ask you this: Don't let the fear-mongers, don't let the
    dividers, don't let the people who disseminate false information
    frighten the United States Congress into walking away from the
    opportunity of a lifetime. Tell the Members of Congress you will support
    them. This is not partisan politics.
        I met with three families before I came up here with these problems.
    I don't have any earthly idea whether they are Republicans or Democrats.
    I couldn't tell you to save my life who they voted for for President.
    But I can tell you one thing: If they get up and go to work and obey the
    law and do their best to raise their children, they deserve health
    insurance. And with your help, we're going to give it to them.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. at Liberty State Park. In his
    remarks, he referred to Gerald W. McEntee, international president,
    American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME);
    Vince Sombrotto, president, National Association of Letter Carriers;
    Dennis Rivera, president, 1199 National Health and Human Service
    Employees Union; Health Security Express rider Carolyn Vilas; and Louis
    and Maria Agnes, of New Jersey, who had written to the President
    concerning their problems obtaining health insurance.