    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 19 (Monday, May 16, 1994)]
    [Pages 1008-1010]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    The President's Radio Address

    May 7, 1994

        Good morning. This week we saw a dramatic example of what we can
    accomplish together when you make your voices heard and Washington sets
    aside partisan differences to do the people's business.
        Even though nearly everyone said it couldn't be done, the House of
    Representatives voted to make our streets safer by banning the sale of
    19 different assault weapons. We pushed hard for this result, and the
    outcome defied the old enemy of gridlock. Democrats and Republicans
    alike sent a powerful message that the American people are determined to
    take their streets, their schools, and their communities back from
    criminals.

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        This vote teaches us an important lesson: No matter how uphill a
    battle may seem, when we set our minds to it, we can deal with the
    problems facing our country. Last year it took the same kind of
    commitment to pass a powerful plan to reduce the deficit. And now we're
    seeing the rewards of that.
        Just yesterday, we learned that our economy has created over a
    quarter of a million jobs in April, and almost a million in the first 4
    months of this year alone, about 3 million jobs since we all began this
    effort and nearly all of them in the private sector.
        Our successes in fighting crime and improving the economy are worth
    thinking about on this Mother's Day weekend. We are honoring the people
    who are at the heart of our society's most important institution, the
    family.
        Tomorrow, mothers all across America will enjoy the flowers, cards,
    and breakfasts in bed. But we should remember another gift that will
    improve and prolong their lives: the gift of good health care. Women are
    the people most likely to guard their families' health care and to make
    sure we're all healthier. And yet too often our health care system
    leaves women behind. Even when treatments are available, women don't get
    the necessary health care they need because they have inadequate
    insurance or none at all. More women than men work part-time or in jobs
    without insurance. And historically, research studies on everything from
    heart disease to strokes to AIDS have tended to focus on men, leaving
    women more vulnerable to many diseases.
        I am committed to redressing these inequities. We've made a good
    start. We've got a fine woman, the Secretary of Health and Human
    Services, Donna Shalala. We created the first senior-level position in
    Government dedicated to women's health concerns. We've increased funds
    to prevent and treat diseases that afflict women. Right now, the largest
    clinical trial in the United States' history is underway, looking at how
    to prevent heart disease, the biggest killer of our women. We launched a
    national action plan on breast cancer to fight the killer of 46,000
    women every year. These women are not just numbers, they are loved ones
    lost forever. And most important, we're pushing to reform the health
    care system.
        The great majority of the letters Hillary and I have received about
    health care reform have been from women, voicing concerns for their
    families, their children, and their parents. One was from a New York
    woman forced to take a job with no medical coverage. Last year, a lump
    was found in her breast, and her doctors said it should be removed. But
    her family can't afford the operation. ``I don't want to die,'' she
    wrote us, ``and because of lack of money, I may. I hope that you'll be
    able to do something soon so that no one will have to go through what I
    am going through.''
        This mother is just 44 years old. I can't share her name because she
    hasn't told her family yet. She doesn't want them to worry. This woman's
    condition may be treatable, but she won't know because treatment is
    simply out of her financial reach.
        Travesties like this happen too often. Women avoid preventive care
    because they're afraid of having records of preexisting conditions that
    will deny them insurance coverage. In a recent survey, 11 percent of
    women said they didn't get their blood pressure checked; 35 percent
    didn't receive a Pap smear; and 44 percent didn't receive a mammogram.
        Our health care plan emphasizes preventive care. It eliminates
    preexisting conditions and bans lifetime limits on health coverage. It
    makes research of women's health problems a priority. It helps families
    when a loved one needs long-term care. And it gives coverage to
    everyone, regardless of whether she is healthy or ill, married or
    single, working inside or outside the home.
        For every American blessed with a mother, or the wonderful memory of
    one, I ask you to think about the 16 million women in our Nation who
    don't get the health care services they need. And think about their
    children. Think how a single illness can destroy a family.
        I think of a courageous woman I met this week named Kate Miles, who
    is caring for a son with multiple disabilities. Her family has no
    assistance for long-term care. So to keep her son, Robert, out of a
    nursing home, and because of the awful way our system op-

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    erates, Kate Miles had to give up her job, and her husband, Tom, must
    work two jobs. As she so eloquently put it: ``In an institution, who
    will be there in the middle of the night when he's frightened, to tell
    him it's all right and that his mother loves him?'' No mother should
    have to know such pain.
        So today I ask every mother's child to send another card this
    Mother's Day. Address it to your Senator or Representative in Congress.
    Tell them this health care reform plan is important, because it may help
    the most important person in your life. And tell them along with mother
    love, most of our mothers taught us that the most important thing in
    life was to be a good person and do the right thing.
        Well, this Mother's Day, the right thing is to make sure that by
    next Mother's Day we never have to worry about the health of our mothers
    being cared for.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 5:06 p.m. on May 6 in the Roosevelt
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 7.