    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [October 15, 1994]
    [Pages 1778-1779]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the National Medical Association
    October 15, 1994

        The President. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
        Karen Mouton. Good evening, Mr. President.
        The President. It's nice to hear your voice, and I appreciate what
    Dr. Walton said. I'm sorry I'm not with you tonight. I know that this
    evening marks the beginning of a very special year in recognizing the
    100th anniversary of the National Medical Association and its
    contribution to the health of our Nation.
        I'm certainly impressed with the star-studded cast for this
    evening's program, and I want to give my own salute to the physician
    honorees, whose accomplishments touch on every area of the medical
    profession. And of course, I want to say I am especially pleased to note
    that our own Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, is one of your
    honorees. I thank you for that.
        I also want to thank the National Medical Association for the key
    role you've played during the past 20 months in our joint effort to seek
    health care reform. Dr. Tracy Walton and Dr. Leonard Lawrence, your
    president and immediate past president, were especially effective during
    the health care debate. And I don't want you to be too discouraged that
    legislation didn't pass. After all, this was the first time in the
    history of the United States that comprehensive health care legislation
    made it to the floor of both Houses of Congress. And the problem is not
    going away. We now know from the census report that over a million
    Americans lost their health insurance just last year. There are still
    challenges that have to be met, and in the end, the spirit, the
    leadership, the guidance of the National Medical Association is going to
    be rewarded with comprehensive health care for all Americans.
        If you won't give up, I won't; we'll keep working. The First Lady is
    here with me, and we want to tell you that we're proud of you, we're
    grateful to you, and we want to keep working for health care reform.
        Let me also thank you for supporting a lot of our other initiatives,
    for helping us pass the crime bill, which in itself was a public health
    bill to reduce violence and crime and drug addiction among our people,
    especially our young people; for your support of the economic program to
    bring the deficit down and get the economy going again. It's produced
    over 4\1/2\ million new jobs in the last 20 months. But most of all, I
    want to thank you for your partnership. We're going to keep working
    together. We're going to keep making progress together. We're going to
    keep moving America forward together.
        You know this health care reform issue is literally a matter of life
    and death for many African-Americans, because of the higher rate of
    preventable diseases and the great at-risk nature of so much of the
    African-American popu-

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    lation who go without primary and preventive care and health care
    coverage in general. But we are moving forward. And we have an
    opportunity now in the next few weeks to send a message to the country
    and to the Congress when you vote in your communities. We want to keep
    working forward. We want to keep going forward. We don't want to go
    back. We know we can make a difference in jobs and crime and the
    deficit, and we know we can make a difference in health care if we'll
    stay at the task.
        So I ask you to keep doing what you're doing, keep standing for the
    right things, keep being a shining symbol of America at its best. I look
    forward to being with you and supporting you, and I am very grateful for
    the support you've given to me.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:57 p.m. by telephone from the Port
    Authority Terminal in Miami, FL, to the association's centennial
    celebration at the National Theatre in Washington, DC. Karen Mouton was
    assistant to program producer Debbie Allen.