[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
[September 30, 1995]
[Pages 1524-1526]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
September 30, 1995

    Good morning. I want to talk to you about the budget debate now 
unfolding in Washington and about how the wrong decisions can threaten 
the independence and the dignity of elderly Americans.
    I strongly believe we must balance the budget to lift the burden of 
debt off our children and to strengthen our economy. But we must balance 
the budget in a way that is consistent with our values and our vision 
for America's future, giving our people the chance to make the most of 
their own lives, strengthening our families, protecting our children, 
honoring our parents, growing the middle class and shrinking the under 
class, preserving America as the world's strongest nation. Those are the 
values that must anchor our budget decisions.
    For our parents and grandparents who sacrificed so much, no value is 
more important than independence. All Americans deserve to live out 
their lives in dignity, and nobody wants to be a burden to their 
children. So we should do everything in our power to offer elderly 
Americans the chance to live with respect and

[[Page 1525]]

with independence, and the Government shouldn't make it worse.
    But the Republicans in Congress have proposed a budget that will 
undermine the dignity and independence of our senior citizens. Here's 
how: Medicaid's the way our country helps families pay for nursing 
homes, home care, or other long-term care for elderly or disabled 
persons. Some people would have you think that Medicaid just helps poor 
children. Well, it does do that, and that is very important. Almost one 
in four American children are poor enough to need help from Medicaid.
    But the truth is, two-thirds of Medicare--Medicaid--goes to help to 
pay for nursing homes and other care for senior citizens and the 
disabled. Nearly 7 of every 10 nursing home residents gets some help 
from Medicaid. And no wonder, for nursing homes cost an average of 
$38,000 a year, and not many of our families can afford that.
    Now this Republican budget would break this promise to our families. 
It ends the national commitment that any senior citizen, regardless of 
how much money they have or don't have, will have access to quality 
doctors and good facilities.
    This budget actually provides for $180 billion in cuts. Now, we do 
need to slow the rate of medical inflation in the Medicaid program. But 
these cuts are way, way too much. They are far, far more than the health 
care system can handle. Over the next few years, this plan and its cuts 
would deny nursing home care to 300,000 seniors who are eligible for it 
today. And it will also cut off home care services to 300,000 more. 
That's bad enough. But listen to what's buried in the fine print; it's 
even worse.
    Under the plan put forward by the House of Representatives, because 
they know there's not enough money in it to maintain the health care 
system, any State government can force people whose husbands or wives 
have to go into nursing homes to give up their car, their furniture, 
even their home before their spouse can qualify for any medical support. 
Everything they've worked for their whole lives, gone.
    Think about it. Who wants a Medicaid police with vast power to seize 
your assets and put you out of your home and make sure you have nothing 
left to pass on to your children? I don't think it should be a 
precondition that if a husband has to go into a nursing home, his wife 
has to go into the poorhouse.
    Once, this kind of abuse was the norm. In the mid-1980's, one 
elderly couple in Texas was forced to live in nursing homes 700 miles 
apart. Another woman in New York had to actually sue her husband for 
support while he lay helpless in a nursing home. The Government had 
tried to force her onto food stamps, but she refused. The Government was 
literally out of control. Then, a bipartisan law signed by President 
Reagan protected spouses.
    The Republican budget plan will also devastate the quality of 
medical care for seniors who need it. Little more than a decade ago, if 
you went to a nursing home, what could you see? Some patients tied to 
their beds, others in a drug-induced stupor, undertrained nurses, and 
fumbling technicians. All told, back then 40 percent of nursing home 
residents were either overrestrained or overmedicated.
    Reforms signed by President Reagan changed all that. But now, the 
Republican plan would eliminate all national standards for nursing home 
care. It would turn back the clock to the days when children worried 
about whether their parents in nursing homes had to actually be afraid 
of danger and degradation.
    Congress should strip these outrageous provisions from the budget 
bill. They're inconsistent with our core values. They're not what 
America is all about, and they are certainly not necessary to balance 
the budget. Congress is trying to cut Medicaid too much, and Congress is 
also trying to cut Medicare too much. It is not necessary to balance the 
budget or to save the Medicare Trust Fund.
    Now, the truth is that we do need--we do need to slow the rate of 
inflation in Medicare and to extend the life of the Medicaid Trust Fund. 
But the congressional cuts of over $270 billion are less than half--and 
less than half of those cuts are going to the Trust Fund.
    Late yesterday, the House Republicans finally told us what these big 
numbers mean. Their massive Medicare cuts, by far the biggest in 
history, now are clear in terms of their impact on individual senior 
citizens.
    Remember now: More than half their cuts don't go to secure Medicare; 
they're using the money for other purposes. How are they going to raise 
the money? They want to double premiums, double deductibles, lower 
quality, give

[[Page 1526]]

less choice, and have no Medicare at all for Americans under 67.
    I have proposed a balanced budget plan that reflects our fundamental 
values. It eliminates the deficit without destroying education or 
undermining our environment or violating our commitments to working 
families, poor children, or seniors. It gives the American people a tax 
cut targeted to education and childrearing, and it secures Medicare and 
its Trust Fund, and it restrains inflation on Medicaid without imposing 
new costs on seniors, threatening their independence, or destroying 
their dignity.
    Let's be clear, of course--of course, we need to balance the budget. 
But we need to do it in a way that strengthens our families, enhances 
opportunity for Americans, and honors our obligations to our parents.
    I am determined to see that people of good faith work together to 
find common ground in meeting this challenge.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 6 p.m. on September 29 in Room 453 of 
the Old Executive Office Building for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on 
September 30.