    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [July 29, 1995]
    [Pages 1173-1174]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Radio Address by the President and Hillary Clinton on Medicare
    July 29, 1995

        The President. Good morning. This morning I'm speaking to you from
    the Oval Office with the First Lady. And we're joined by families from
    all across our country, grandparents, parents, and children, including
    Hillary's mother and my stepfather. We want to talk with you this
    morning about the respect and dignity we owe to older Americans and the
    security we owe to their families.
        This weekend we're celebrating the 30th anniversary of the passage
    of Medicare. Guaranteed health care for older and disabled Americans is
    now so much a part of our lives that it's easy to forget how growing old
    once meant growing poor in our country. In 1965, over one-third of older
    Americans were poor, and half of them were uninsured.
        I remember because my mother was a nurse-anesthetist, and older
    people without insurance would sometimes come to our house, offering to
    mow our lawn or bringing a bushel of peaches to pay for her services.
    These Americans had worked hard their whole lives, they didn't have any
    health insurance, and they were in danger of losing their health.
        Vice President Gore's father, Senator Al Gore, Sr., was in the
    Senate back in 1965 when he said that this was a disgrace in a country
    such as ours. Senator Gore helped to create Medicare to put an end to
    that disgrace. And since then, Medicare has lifted millions of seniors
    out of poverty and provided insurance for almost every older American.
        Mrs. Clinton. We need to remember that Medicare is not just
    important for older men and women, it is a compact across generations.
    Medicare means that we don't have to choose between doing right by our
    parents and giving our children the opportunities they deserve.
        A friend of ours told me a story about how, before Medicare, her
    mother would take a part of her paycheck each week and put it in an
    envelope to pay for an aging parent's health care bills. That meant the
    family had less money for putting food on the table or sending their
    children to college or saving for their own retirement. That's the way
    it was for families before Medicare and the way it could be again for
    all families, especially those of us with both responsibilities for
    parents and children.
        Parents ought to be able to save for their children's college and
    protect their parents' health, and Medicare means they can. It certainly
    has been there for our family and for the Vice President's.
        You may know that the President and I have both lost parents in the
    last 2\1/2\ years. We've sat in those hospital waiting rooms. We've been
    in those intensive care units. And we've also experienced in the past
    week with the Vice President the joy of having his mother come out of
    the hospital. For all our worries, the one thing we didn't have to worry
    about was a mountain of health care bills. Medicare was there.
        That is the story for millions of Americans, people like Arthur
    Flemming and Genevieve Johnson, who are here with us. Mr. Flemming
    helped start Medicare 30 years ago, and Mrs. Johnson was among the first
    people to benefit from it. Today, both are in their nineties and receive
    Medicare, and both have worked tirelessly to make sure Medicare will be
    there for their grandchildren, too. And I think it's because they know
    what life is like for most older Americans. The median income for women
    over 65 in our country is $8,500 a year.
        The President. To preserve Medicare for all of our grandchildren we
    do have to strengthen the Medicare trust fund, which holds the money we
    all pay in to cover hospital, nursing homes, and home health bills. I've
    been working to reform Medicare since I took office, and frankly, the
    trust fund is in better shape than it was when I did take office. But
    real reform is about making the situation better, not worse. Real reform
    means fixing the trust fund without putting beneficiaries in a fix.

    [[Page 1174]]

        I also believe we have to balance the budget. But I know we can do
    that and strengthen the trust fund without rolling back 30 years of
    progress against poverty and fear for older Americans. That's what my
    balanced budget will do. It will eliminate the deficit, secure the
    Medicare trust fund, and still protect older Americans from one penny in
    new Medicare costs. Times are tough enough without forcing families to
    pay more to keep the health care they have right now.
        The congressional majority sees it differently. They are now willing
    to join me in shoring up the trust fund, but they want to do it in a way
    I don't agree with, that goes way too far, because they insist on such a
    huge tax cut that also make older couples pay $5,600 more out of their
    pockets over the next few years. For people who don't have that kind of
    money, the message will be simple: Fend for yourselves. Many people just
    won't be able to do it.
        As I said before, we often take for granted the security that comes
    from Medicare. But according to a new study by the Department of Health
    and Human Services, the congressional majority would push 500,000--a
    half a million--older Americans into poverty by increasing the cost of
    health care. And these cuts would force their families to make choices
    between generations that no family should have to make.
        We do need to protect Medicare from going bankrupt, but we don't
    have to bankrupt older Americans to do it. None of the cuts driving
    families into poverty would go into the trust fund. They would simply
    pay for a huge tax cut for people who don't really need it. That's
    unnecessary, and it's wrong. Medicare is too important to all families
    to become a piggy bank for tax cuts for just a few. It's especially
    important today because so many families are working harder and earning
    the same or less than they did 10 years ago.
        For all Americans, Medicare must remain a source of certainty and
    security. For our parents, but also for our children, I pledge to do my
    part to keep Medicare strong.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the
    White House.