[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-


[[Page 1779]]

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.