    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 12 (Monday, March 28, 1994)]
    [Pages 587-595]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks in a Health Care Forum in Deerfield Beach

    March 21, 1994

        The President. Thank you very much. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
    Thank you for that sign back there. Can you hear me in the back? Good.
    Everybody sit down and relax now.
        Hillary and I are delighted to be back here at Century Village. We
    liked it the first time; we like it better this time.
        I want to thank Larry Smedley for that introduction; Joanne Pepper
    for her support of health care; your fine, fine Congressman Harry
    Johnston for his leadership and support of our efforts in Congress; and
    my good friend Governor Lawton Chiles for his kind remarks and his
    strong leadership. I also want to note the presence here in the audience
    today of Congressman Peter Deutsch and Congressman Alcee Hastings; a
    host of State officials, including your Lieutenant Governor Buddy
    MacKay, Attorney General Bob Butterworth, and many others, legislators
    and other State officials. I want to thank the mayor, Mayor Albert
    Capellini, for giving me a cap. If I put it on in a few minutes, I'll be
    just like most of you, protecting myself from the sun. I want to thank
    Mr. and Mrs. Levy for having us here at Century Village and recognize my
    good friends Michael and Kitty Dukakis who are here with us today. Thank
    you for being here.
        Ladies and gentleman, 2 years ago Hillary and I came here when I was
    running for President. We sought the support of the people of Broward
    County and south Florida and all of this State. We did extremely well
    here on Super Tuesday, much better than anyone predicted that we would.
    And we nearly carried this heavily Republican State in November, and I
    haven't given up on it for next time.
        I believe it happened because Americans were sick and tired of their
    politics and their headlines being dominated every day by distraction,
    by division, by destruction. I said that I wanted to get away from
    distraction and focus the American people on the real problems that we
    face and our real opportunities, that I wanted to go beyond division to
    bring our people back together again

    [[Page 588]]

    across the lines of race and age and region and income and party, and
    that I was tired of destruction. I thought it was time we started
    building again. Americans are real good when we work on building things
    and getting together and moving forward. We're absolutely unstoppable.
        Even though I'm kind of a mediocre golfer and not a very good
    baseball player at all, I'm glad I'm here in Florida for spring
    training, because while the baseball players are working on their
    swings, I came to tell you that I'm still in Washington going to bat for
    you, and I will every day I am the President of the United States.
        You heard the Congressman mention a little of this, but I want to
    take just a minute to give you a progress report. When I took office, we
    had seen the 4 slowest years of economic growth since the Great
    Depression, almost no job growth. People said our deficit was going to
    be over $300 billion a year. It is now commonly agreed that the first
    year of this administration was the most productive in a generation: 2.1
    million new jobs in 13 months; the highest growth rate in 10 years in
    the fourth quarter of last year; dramatic increases in sales of cars and
    homes; an economic program that led to lower interest rates and higher
    investments and more jobs and opportunity.
        We have done something for your grandchildren and your children.
    We've reformed the college loan program to lower the interest rates and
    make the repayment terms better. We passed the national service program
    that this year will provide 20,000 young Americans and 2 years from now
    100,000 young Americans a chance to earn their way through college by
    serving their communities at the grassroots level to make our streets
    safer, our people healthier, our people smarter and stronger. We finally
    passed the family leave bill after 7 years of trying to make sure that
    people don't lose their jobs if they have to take time off from work
    when a baby's born or a parent is sick and needs the help of a child.
    And after 7 years we passed the Brady bill, to begin the work of making
    our streets safer.
        This year the Congress is up there right now working on a
    comprehensive crime bill to put another 100,000 police officers on the
    street, to take automatic weapons and semiautomatic weapons off the
    street, to provide alternative punishment to young people and drug
    treatment for people who need it, and a ``three strikes and you're out''
    law so we don't parole people who are serious dangers to society.
        They're working on a welfare reform law to make welfare a second
    chance not a way of life. They're working on a campaign finance reform
    law that Governor Chiles worked his heart out on as a Senator. We're
    finally going to get it this year. And most important, we are working on
    doing something that started 60 years ago, finally, finally providing
    health care security for all Americans that can never be taken away.
        Many of you in this audience remember when Franklin Roosevelt led
    the struggle to create Social Security. You were there when John Kennedy
    and Lyndon Johnson fought to create Medicare, a solemn pact with our
    senior citizens. Many of you also remember, I hope, that Franklin
    Roosevelt and Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter, and yes,
    even President Nixon all tried and failed in the face of special
    interest opposition to guarantee health security for all Americans. But
    we can do it this year, and we must.
        There are those who say there is no health care crisis. Well, as
    always happens when we get up to the brink on health reform, inflation
    has dropped a little in the cost of health care. That's one thing our
    health care reform has already done, brought the rising cost of health
    care into the point where it's rising more slowly. But you let them kill
    it this time, and it'll go right back to the way it was for the last 12
    years, going up at 2 and 3 times the rate of inflation.
        Even now, 2 million Americans lose their health insurance every
    month, 100,000 of them for good, forever. Fifty-eight million Americans
    are without health insurance at some time during every year in a country
    of 255 million. Eighty-one million Americans have a preexisting
    condition in their family so that they can never change the job they
    have because they couldn't get new insurance, or they have to pay higher
    rates for the insurance they have, or they can't get insurance at all.
    And 133 million Americans,

    [[Page 589]]

    a majority of us, have lifetime limits on our health coverage so that
    when we need it the most, we can run out of health insurance.
        Now, I believe that qualifies as a crisis. I also know that
    everybody in this country who is still working for a living, who does
    not work for the Federal Government or a very big and completely secure
    corporation, can lose their health insurance even if they've got it. I
    also know that because of the cost of health care going up at 2 and 3
    times the rate of the inflation, there are other plans in the Congress
    that seek to cut Medicare or cut Medicaid increases without doing one
    thing to try to help our senior citizens and without proposing a
    comprehensive plan that guarantees you that Medicare services will not
    be cut. I am here to tell you that we're not going to mess up what's
    right about American health care. Medicare works. Our doctors, our
    nurses, our hospitals, our medical research works, and we're going to
    keep them intact and improve our support for them. That's what we ought
    to do.
        My fellow Americans, if we want everybody in this country to have
    health care, we've only got three choices: We can guarantee coverage
    through the workplace through private insurance; we can pass a tax and
    cover everyone; or we can decide what a lot of the special interest
    groups and the Congress, people in the Congress hope we'll decide, which
    is one more time, we just can't figure out how to do it.
        Every other advanced country with which we are competing for the
    future has figured out how to give all their people health care
    security. We have not been able to figure out how to do it. You know
    why? It's because the people who are making a killing on the financing
    of the system don't want us to figure it out. I say, give it to the
    people.
        I want to tell you what I think we should do: We ought to have
    guaranteed private insurance; we ought to keep the choice of doctors and
    health care plans in the hands of consumers, people who are actually
    having to deal with the care, not their employers or the insurance
    companies; we ought to outlaw insurance abuses like charging older
    people more than younger people for their insurance or eliminating
    people with preexisting conditions; we ought to guarantee those health
    benefits at work; and we ought to protect Medicare and improve it.
        First, I believe that guaranteed health coverage is important
    because if you don't do it, you're never going to bring costs under
    control, and all the rest of us will be suffering from medical inflation
    from now until Kingdom come. And a lot of you are going to deal with the
    fact that your children and grandchildren are facing bankruptcy because
    they don't have the kind of security you have under Medicare.
        I also believe the benefits package has to be a good one. If it
    doesn't include primary and preventive care, you will have children who
    are sicker than they ought to be; you'll have women who ought to have
    access to mammographies and men who ought to have cholesterol tests and
    things of that kind that you won't have. This is very important. And
    people have got to know that this is going to be there and can never be
    taken away.
        The second thing--I want to be very clear on this--the second thing
    that our plan does is to preserve, indeed to expand, the right of the
    American people to choose their doctor or their health care plan. Now,
    if you're on Medicare, you can choose your doctor. But slightly more
    than half the people in the country who are insured at work already
    today have lost their right to choose their health care plan and their
    doctor. They don't have it today. And if we don't do anything, the
    rising cost of medical care will force more and more employers to take
    from their employees the right to choose their doctor or their health
    care plan.
        Under our system, every American in the work force will get three
    choices: They can choose their doctor individually; they can choose a
    given health care plan; or they can choose another plan. They'll have at
    least three choices. And if they don't like the choice they made, every
    year they get to make another one. That's the way we ought to do it.
    That will guarantee the highest quality. It will protect the interest of
    our doctors and nurses. It will be the right thing to do.
        The third thing we've got to do is stop some of these insurance
    company abuses. We have got to stop people from dropping their insured
    people. We've got to stop people from cutting benefits to the bone. We
    can't

    [[Page 590]]

    have people with their rates going up just because they get sick. After
    all, you have insurance because you might get sick. So when you get
    sick, which is the reason you bought the insurance in the first place,
    should you have to have higher rates? Of course not. We shouldn't have
    lifetime limits. Insurance ought to mean what it used to mean back when
    it was started by Blue Cross during the Depression: Pay a fair price for
    security, and when you're sick, your health care benefits are there for
    you. That's what insurance used to mean, and it can mean that again.
        Now, I think the easiest way to do this is just to expand coverage
    at the workplace. Why? Because 8 out of 10 Americans who have no
    insurance are working or are in working families. And 9 out of 10
    Americans who have private insurance get it at the workplace. So the
    simplest way is to say that employers and employees who aren't covered
    should purchase insurance and to provide discounts for small businesses
    who can't afford it otherwise. That is the simplest way to do it.
        The Government should provide the discounts for the small business
    and cover the unemployed. This approach builds on what works. It's easy,
    it's simple, it will make sure that everyone is covered.
        Why are some people fighting it? They say it's bad for small
    business. Let me tell you something folks, 70 percent of the small
    business people in this country cover their employees. What about them?
    They're at an unfair competitive disadvantage to those people in the
    same business they're in who don't cover their employees. And I'll tell
    you something else, I meet small business person after small business
    person who says, ``I'm embarrassed that every year I have to raise the
    copay and the deductible because my rates are 35 or 40 percent more
    expensive than the people in the Government are paying or the people
    from big business are paying.'' We are going to change that. That's what
    Governor Chiles has tried to do here in Florida; that's what we're going
    to do for America.
        And let me say finally that no health care reform can pass any true
    test unless it is good for older Americans. Dr. Arthur Flemming, a
    former U.S. Commissioner of Aging and a fighter for older Americans in
    the tradition of Claude Pepper, has called my proposal, and I quote,
    ``The best thing for older Americans since Medicare.'' That's why so
    many senior groups have said that our approach is the best option for
    senior citizens and why I was so proud that Larry Smedley of the
    National Council of Senior Citizens would come here today to endorse our
    efforts and give you all those caps to keep you from expiring in this
    heat.
        Under our approach, if you get Medicare, you keep it. Your choice of
    doctor is protected. I know that's important, because every older
    American deserves the security of quality health care. But under our
    approach you get more. I want to expand benefits. We want to have
    coverage for prescription drugs which costs older Americans more than
    anything today.
        Since I started running for President, the number one complaint I
    have heard from people who are on Medicare is that they are not poor
    enough to be on Medicaid; they don't want to be that poor, but they are
    not rich enough to pay their outrageous drug bills. We want to do
    something about it, and that's why our plan covers prescription medicine
    for senior citizens.
        We also begin to provide coverage for long-term care where you want
    it, at home or in your community. I want to thank the wonderful ``We
    Care'' volunteers for greeting us today and for walking Hillary and me
    in here. I understand they help many of you get medicine or get a little
    bit of help to stay at home. But not everybody is lucky enough to have a
    ``We Care.'' Believe me, I know. I meet people who don't every week.
    That's why we need to make a start in helping people to afford care
    where they prefer it, in their homes or in communities like this one.
    It's not right to force people into nursing homes when they could do
    just fine at home if they had a little help from their friends.
        Let me also say that I know we can strengthen Medicare and make some
    savings in the Medicare program, but only--listen to me--only if we
    cover everybody and if everyone has medical inflation go down. Under our
    plan we still expect Medicare spending to go up at twice the rate of
    inflation, not 3 times the rate of inflation, which is what's going to
    happen if we don't do

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    something to change. Medicare goes up at 3 times the rate of inflation,
    your premiums under Medicare go up more for the same health care, under
    our plan, less inflation, and we use the savings for prescription drugs
    and for health care at home or in the community. It is a good deal for
    the senior citizens of America.
        Let me make one other point. We must also invest more and more, not
    less and less, in medical research into all kinds of problems but
    especially one which I know concerns many of you in this audience today
    and that's Alzheimer's disease and the new drug therapies to treat
    Alzheimer's, into things which cause cancer and to the causes of
    osteoporosis, into what we can do to prevent heart disease. America
    leads the world in cutting-edge research. And under our plan we actually
    increase the funds going to medical research.
        The opponents of our plan have tried to confuse the issue by making
    it seem complicated. They ignore the fact that the system we have today
    is the most complicated on the face of the Earth. The principles of our
    plan are simple: Guarantee private insurance to every American; let you
    choose your doctor and your health plan; outlaw insurance company
    abuses; guarantee health benefits at work for everyone who works;
    preserve and strengthen Medicare for older Americans by adding the
    prescription drugs and long-term care benefits. That's our approach, and
    that's our opportunities.
        But let me say this, there are a lot of people who are making money
    out of this system today who don't want it to change, even though we can
    change it and improve, not weaken, health care. One group of health
    insurers has already spent 14 million on health care ads to scare you
    about the cause of health care reform.
        And what are the special interests saying? Led by the extreme right
    of the Republican Party, they are warning of a grim future. I say that
    because we do have some good Republicans who want health care reform,
    and we hope they'll be at least free to vote with us in the Congress as
    we work toward it. That's a message to their leaders.
        These guys that--no kidding, they're up there saying all over again,
    they say, this is socialized medicine; this is rationing. This is
    private health insurance. This is what every other economy with an
    advanced standard of living in the world has done but the United States;
    that's what it is. It's the same old thing they said when Roosevelt
    tried to do health care reform, when Kennedy fought for Medicare.
        Listen to this, when Kennedy fought for Medicare back in 1962, a
    movie actor in California who later became the Governor of his State and
    the leader of our country--listen to this--urged listeners to oppose
    Medicare. He said, ``If you don't do this, one of these days you and I
    are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our
    children's children what it was once like in America when men were
    free.''
        Now, to his credit, by the time he became President, Mr. Reagan
    didn't try to totally dismantle the Medicare system. But they're using
    the same rhetoric today. Once we've put it in, they won't try to take it
    out. They'll try to take credit for it just like they do with Social
    Security and everything else.
        Make no mistake about it, the guardians of gridlock, the people who
    liked our national politics when it was about distraction, division, and
    destruction, are doing everything they can to stop health care reform.
    If you will help me, it will be good for your health because we won't
    let them, if we stay together.
        My fellow Americans, I cannot outspend the opponents of health care
    reform. They have more money than I can possibly raise, especially if
    I'm working for you every day. But I can fight, and you can fight with
    me. And we can keep working, and we can support Congressmen like your
    Congressman who believe that the time has long since passed when America
    should be able to continue making excuses for no prescription drugs, no
    long-term care in the home or in the community, and not even providing
    decent, basic coverage to the working families of this country. We can
    do better, and with your help, we will.
        Thank you very much, and God bless you all.

    [At this point, Hillary Clinton spoke about the personal dimensions of
    the health care reform battle and then asked for questions.]

    [[Page 592]]

        Q. [Inaudible]--about the 28 million veterans in this--what about--
    can you hear me?
        Hillary Clinton. Let me repeat this gentleman's question. His
    question is, what about the 28 million veterans?
        Well, the President's still visiting. Let me say that the
    President's health care reform has been endorsed by all of the major
    veterans' service organizations because it is the only one that tries to
    preserve and strengthen the veterans health system. And there's a very
    specific way we offer to do that. Those of you who are veterans, and I
    imagine there are many of you in this crowd--if you are like my father
    was, that was one of the most important parts of your life. And he never
    could understand as he got older why he could not take his Medicare and
    go to a VA hospital, as he chose to do so. And we've heard that from
    many veterans.
        Under the President's health care reform plan, if you're a veteran
    with Medicare or Medigap or other insurance, you can use the VA system.
    You will no longer be locked out of the system that is there for
    veterans.
        Now, veterans with service-connected disabilities and low-income
    veterans will always retain their preference, because we have to take
    care of them first. But there are many facilities around our country
    that can accommodate millions of our veterans who can bring their
    Medicare and insurance dollars. So we are going to take care of our
    veterans.
        Thank you.
        Q. Mrs. Clinton, if this program is put into effect, this reformed
    health plan, will the Congressmen and Senators assume the same payments
    as we do?
        Mrs. Clinton. Yes, and the President, too. We are going to have one
    health care system for everybody, including Congress and the President.
        Q. I'm president of the Florida Nurses Association. And you have
    made it clear that you will veto any health care reform bill that does
    not guarantee coverage for all Americans. Will you make a commitment to
    veto any bill that doesn't also include tough and effective cost
    controls? And could you comment on the role of advanced-practice nurses
    in the health care reform?
        The President. She said that--this lady is from the nurses
    association here in Florida. Give her a hand. [Applause] And the
    American Nurses Association have been among the strongest supporters of
    our plan. I appreciate that. She said I said that I would veto any bill
    that didn't provide universal coverage; would I also veto a bill that
    didn't have cost controls? And would I comment on the role of advanced
    practice nursing?
        Let me answer the second question first. We have achieved so much
    support among nurses in part because our plan permits the widest
    possible use of nurses to do things that they are properly trained to do
    anywhere in the country. And secondly, it's not as easy to say yes or no
    on that. I think there have to be cost controls in the plan. If there
    aren't some guarantees of controlling costs, we won't be able to prove
    to the Congressional Budget Office how much the plan costs, and we won't
    be able to pass it. So as a practical matter, no plan will pass and come
    to my desk unless there are clear, disciplined measures to make sure
    that costs are held down. It can't happen. But I don't want to get into
    a fight about what kinds of measures we'll accept or not accept.
        Q. I want you to know that we love you. And the reason we love you
    is because you've shown by words and more important by deeds that you
    love us, too.
        The President. Thank you.
        Q. I have two questions. Why do we need those parasites known as the
    insurance business? And I have one more question, and the other question
    is, can we end up with 50 alliances instead of say, 5,000? If you want
    real competition, why not one alliance or two for the more populous
    States? That should be the real competition, because we'll show the
    industry where we come from.
        The President. Let me answer the insurance question, and I'll let
    Hillary answer the alliance question. Okay? We'll split it up, because a
    lot of you have single-payer signs up, and I want to talk abut that.
        There are basically, obviously, two ways to get universal coverage.
    You can do it through a single-payer system, or you can do it through an
    employer-employee shared cost system for private insurance.
        Here is why I think our plan is better and why I wouldn't eliminate
    all the insurance companies. First of all, I feel compelled to

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    tell you, sir, that there are some insurance companies, believe it or
    not, who have not contributed to that television ad campaign against our
    plan, because they do favor universal control--I mean, universal
    coverage for all Americans.
        Now, here's why I think it's--our plan is better. First of all, I
    think that it's clear that some of the insurance companies, particularly
    bigger ones, do a good job of trying to manage the health care system
    and manage costs. And if you have enough people in a big insurance pool,
    they can get their administrative costs down almost as low as you have
    in the Medicare program if the pools are big enough. That's the second
    question you asked. And they really have acquired quite a lot of
    expertise.
        Secondly, as a practical matter, there are a lot of awfully good
    people who are working in this industry. And I don't think we should
    throw them all out of work. The problem is that in our system you've got
    1,500 separate companies writing thousands of different policies, so you
    have to hire all these people to figure out who's not covered. If we had
    a rational private insurance system, the insurance companies can make a
    valuable contribution without bankrupting the system.
        I also believe, as a practical matter, based on--we have Members of
    Congress here who may have a different opinion, but my reading of the
    Congress is that we have a better chance to pass guaranteed private
    insurance than the single-payer system, because I think it's simpler,
    easier, and less disruptive. But I also think, on the merits, it's the
    right thing to do.
        Now, let me let Hillary answer the question about the alliances.
        Mrs. Clinton. Well, I think that if you have the States making the
    decisions, some States will only have one; some will only have two; some
    of the larger ones may need more than two. But it's not going to be
    thousands. It will only be probably 100 or 120 at the most, the way we
    look at the population. So I don't think that will be a problem.
        And the other thing about single payer is in the President's plan,
    each State has the right to be a single-payer State if they so choose.
    And so that is something we want local people to make a decision about.
        Q. Hillary and Mr. President, to quote you about ``we'll watch it.''
    That happened to my wife. She died because a doctor said, ``We'll watch
    it.''
        Now, as a little aside, Mr. President, our honorable Governor will
    concur, we do have the best health care in the world right here in
    Florida. Our number two industry is citrus, oranges and grapefruit--has
    the best health care for Florida at the moment. Thank you.
        The President. Go ahead.

    [A participant asked about health care coverage for mental illness.]

        Mrs. Clinton. I wish that this gentleman had the microphone so you
    could have heard. He made the point that a third of the people who are
    homeless have mental health problems. Many people in our prisons have
    mental health problems. And many Americans have mental health and
    substance abuse problems. We want to begin covering mental health
    problems. And in the benefits package the President has proposed, that
    will begin because it is not fair to turn our backs on mental illness
    like schizophrenia or clinical depression and not treat it like a
    disease. And in fact, if we began to treat it, it will actually help
    more people and save us all money. And so we're going to start doing
    that and beginning to treat mental health right.
        Q. ----Mr. President. And to Hillary--Hillary, I know you've been
    pushing the primary physician. And even though I'm on a board with a lot
    of hospitals and doctors, how are you going to get rid of all these
    specialists who charge millions and millions of dollars for IRS, salary,
    MRI's, and scans? We need primary health care. Will you push that,
    please?
        Mrs. Clinton. Yes, we do need more primary health care physicians,
    and we're going to try to create more and also advanced-practice nurses
    and physician assistants because we really need a team of doctors and
    nurses and other health care professionals to work together on primary
    care so that our specialists, then, can get the good referrals that they
    need to take care of people.
        The President. Don't let--let me just say this: Don't let anybody
    tell you, scare you, into saying that we are for undermining the
    American people having enough specialists.

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    That's a load of hooey. Right now we've got enough specialists for 30
    years, but we don't have enough primary-care physicians in most States
    in the country. So we'll take care of the specialists, but we have to
    have our primary physicians first.
        Q. Mr. President, I realize that you're trying to redo the medical
    program. The problem that I'm facing, and I might be the youngest one in
    the crowd, is I have somebody at home who has applied for Medicare
    disability and should be eligible. And what is happening to this person
    is over a year ago or a year and half ago, this person was denied it
    twice. It has gone to Federal court. We have an honorable lawyer, and
    the judges are writing one thing and saying another. And what I'd like
    to do--and I made myself a promise I was going to do this today, I'll be
    glad to pass it on to you--I would like you to look at--may I come
    forward?
        The President. I'll have somebody come get it.
        Q. Well, I could come forward.
        And I have to say to you, that while you are fixing or redoing a new
    prescription for medicine, I think you need to look at this
    documentation and talk to--I'm very disappointed, but I know Senator
    Graham who I have been working with on this has the whole file. And I
    think there are a lot of disabled people, I might be one of them next,
    that need help and need a system that's ethical and moral.
        And I thank you for listening to me, and I wish you good luck
    because we need it.
        The President. Thank you very much.
        Q. Mr. President, I'd like to tell you what happened to my mother.
    She needed a operation and was told to go to a doctor to get this
    operation. The doctor said, ``Yes, you need a gallstone operation, but
    my price is $5,000.'' My father says, ``I can give you my life savings
    of $1,000; I don't have $5,000.'' He said, ``Mr. Segal, if you don't
    have money to go in a taxi, you ride in a subway.'' And he left.
        The President. I think what you said speaks for itself. And thank
    you for having the courage to tell us. Thank you.
        Q. Mr. President, a lot of people here know me. I've been
    coordinating your health care plan for south Florida since the
    Inauguration. And I just want to comment that it's really a pleasure to
    do so. But I'd like to ask you what's asked of me when I give speeches
    around. They say, ``Mr. Brodin, how does this lower or lessen their
    bureaucracy? If anything, you're going to create another level of
    bureaucracy.'' Could they hear it from your lips, that I prize your
    words greatly, and explain to them as I have tried, how it will not only
    not multiply it, but it will actually significantly lessen it. And by
    the way, it's a pleasure to work with you, too.
        The President. Here's why it will lessen the bureaucracy. Look
    what--what runs the bureaucracy up today? Talk to any doctor or nurse.
    Talk to these nurses here. You have 1,500 separate health insurance
    companies writing thousands and thousands of different policies, each of
    them with different coverages or different copays or different
    deductibles. Once you standardize the benefit package and standardize
    the coverage, then you make it possible for every person to fill out one
    form. The insured person can fill out one form, a simple form. The nurse
    at the hospital or the clinic can fill out one form. You will
    drastically cut the paperwork, the insurance people will be processing
    one form.
        So I want to--the people--you will need fewer jobs in clerical work
    in hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies. You will need more jobs
    in providing home health care, community-based health care, and doing
    other things. But it will be, from a pure paperwork point of view, it
    will be much simpler because of the reform of the insurance packages.
        Now, what that means is the little insurance companies will either
    have to resort to selling supplemental policies or go into cooperative
    arrangements so they can insure people in big pools and make money the
    way grocery stores do, a little bit of money on a lot of people instead
    of a lot of money on a few people.
        But that's why it will be much simpler. The central benefit package
    in the common system--and everybody carries a little card around like
    that card up there and just files for the health care.
        Q. Thank you. That's my most frequently asked question----

    [[Page 595]]

        Q. [Inaudible]--dedicated State employee. My name is--and I've been
    deprived of all my State benefits for the past two years. My dad in
    Cleveland has had to pay for my Blue Cross-Blue Shield for me. And I
    just--[inaudible]--grave injustice. And I'm just asking for help from
    you and also from the Governor, because I've been calling his office for
    the last 2 years to help me, and no one has helped me. And I was a
    devoted State employee and the only girl in my office in Broward County,
    and I don't deserve it--the division of hotels and restaurants.
        Mrs. Clinton. Thank you. We will look into that. But your concern
    and your feeling obviously goes far beyond your own case because people
    lose their jobs, then they lose their health care benefits.
        Q. But I was a loyal----
        Mrs. Clinton. And they can be loyal, hard-working people. And you
    don't deserve it. And when I think about that----
        Q. [Inaudible]--and they crucified me for no reason.
        Mrs. Clinton. We'll look into that, thank you.
        But what we are going to try to do is eliminate the problem. The
    problem should be eliminated so that when you lose your job, you still
    have insurance. You don't have to worry about it anymore.
        Q. [Inaudible].
        The President. Medical overbilling--there's a special provision in
    the plan that will enable us to do that.
        Again, if you have everybody covered in the uniform system, it will
    be much easier to see whether there is overbilling than there is now.
        Q. Your health care plan is great, great for people who have
    existing problems, also, good for my grandma and her contemporaries. But
    what about my generation and my mom's? Will there still be enough money
    for these funds for our security?
        The President. Absolutely. Here's the thing. If we don't do
    something now, then there may not be enough money for adequate health
    care because we can't have another 10 years when the cost of health care
    goes up at 2 and 3 times the rate of inflation, so people pay more money
    for the same health care.
        And also, keep in mind, our plan covers things for your generation
    that aren't covered now like medicine and preventive care and mental
    health coverage, things that aren't covered now. So the answer to your
    question is your generation has a lot better chance if you pass a plan
    and we slow the growth of health care cost.
        We could stay here tomorrow at dawn. You've been great being out
    here in all this hot weather.
        Thank you so much.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:23 p.m. at Century Village East. In his
    remarks, he referred to Lawrence Smedley, executive director, National
    Council of Senior Citizens; Joanne Pepper, cousin of the late
    Congressman and senior citizen advocate, Claude Pepper, and; Michael
    Dukakis, former Presidential candidate, and his wife Kitty. A tape was
    not available for verification of the content of these remarks.