[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 6 (Monday, February 12, 1996)]
[Pages 173-175]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

February 3, 1996

    Good morning. I would like to talk to you this morning about how we 
can meet one of the challenges I outlined in my State of the Union 
Address: providing greater economic security to Americans who work hard, 
and especially how we can ensure that those Americans have access to 
health care, because millions and millions of working Americans and 
their families don't have access to health care.
    There can be no doubt that we do live in an age of great 
possibility, a time of exploding technology and information, a time that 
will enable more Americans than ever before to fulfill their dreams. But 
this new economy, with so much opportunity, also has very stiff 
challenges, as most Americans know. Our news is not all good. While this 
new economy has produced a record number of new businesses in each of 
the last 3 years and nearly 8 million new jobs, too many of our fellow 
citizens are still working harder and harder just to keep up. They are 
rightly concerned about the security of their families. They are worried 
about job security. They are worried about never seeming to get a raise. 
They are worried about access to education, the security of their 
pensions, and access to health care.
    Our challenge is to make sure that all Americans can be winners in 
this time of change. How are we going to do it? First, we have to keep 
our economy growing. That's one reason we should balance the budget: It 
will keep interest rates coming down, bringing in more investments, 
generating more jobs. After many weeks of negotiations, the Republicans 
and I already have agreed on more than enough cuts that are common to 
each of our plans: to balance the budget in 7 years and still provide a 
modest middle-class tax cut; to maintain our obligations to parents and 
children and to the future through the Medicare and Medicaid programs 
and through our investments in education; and to protect the 
environment.
    I urge the Republicans in Congress to keep working with me so that 
we can actually pass a balanced budget. We have the savings in common, 
we can do it, and we owe it to the American people to do it.
    Second, we have to work together to create more new high-wage jobs 
in the new industries of the future. That's why I was very pleased that 
just this week Congress passed landmark telecommunications legislation, 
legislation we have been working on for more than 3 years. It will 
create a lot of high-wage jobs. It will give consumers more choices in 
communications and in entertainment. It will

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help to unlock the power of the digital revolution. This legislation was 
passed the way we should deal with all our challenges, with Members of 
both parties working together and working together until they got it 
right.
    The third thing we should do is raise the minimum wage. Millions of 
people are raising children on the minimum wage. But if we don't raise 
it within a year it will be at a 40-year low in its purchasing power. We 
can't build a new economy with that kind of income to raise children on.
    And fourth, we must make sure that every working American has the 
personal economic security to make the most of his or her own life and 
to support a family. That means lifetime access to education and 
training. It means portable, secure pensions. And above all, for people 
with families especially, it means access to health care.
    Our Nation is the only leading economy in the world where insurance 
companies are allowed to deny you coverage or raise your rates just 
because you're sick. If you have a preexisting condition, like diabetes, 
high blood pressure, or heart disease, an insurance company can simply 
turn you down. If you are healthy but your child has asthma, your child 
can be denied coverage. And in some cases, if you're pregnant and you 
move to a new job, that can be enough to turn you away.
    Many millions more people simply lose their health coverage as they 
move from one job to another. Believe it or not, between 1991 and 1993 
some 64 million people went without health insurance for some period of 
time. For working families that's like walking on a tightrope without a 
net below.
    We shouldn't put obstacles in the way of people who want to move to 
better jobs. We certainly shouldn't put additional burdens on people who 
lose their jobs that they want to keep. At the very least, our first 
step should be to make sure that working people who have health 
insurance can take it with them from job to job.
    The State of New Hampshire, where I am today, is one of 42 States to 
take some action to try and solve this problem. But only if we take 
national action will we truly be able to give working people access to 
health care. There is bipartisan legislation that would protect these 
working families, sponsored by Senator Nancy Kassebaum, a Republican 
from Kansas, and Senator Edward Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts. 
The bill would require insurers to cover men and women who have lost 
insurance because they change or lose their jobs. It would limit the 
ability of insurance companies to exclude you from coverage if you have 
a preexisting condition. And it would help small businesses and 
individuals pool their resources to buy insurance at cheaper rates.
    It could help as many as 25 million Americans each year to have or 
to keep their health insurance. It's good common sense, and it's the 
right thing to do. The Kassebaum-Kennedy bill has 43 cosponsors from 
both parties in the Senate. It passed through its committee unanimously. 
It has the support of the National Association of Manufacturers, the 
chamber of commerce, and the national small business union. It is 
supported by doctors as well as consumer groups. It should pass easily.
    When I challenged Congress to pass this bipartisan health care 
reform in my State of the Union Address, nearly every Member of Congress 
jumped to their feet and applauded, but now the bill is stalled. It 
turns out that some Senators have quietly been working to keep this bill 
from coming up to a vote even though it passed out of the committee 
unanimously. Why are they doing it? Because that's what the insurance 
industry wants them to do. And the insurance industry is lobbying hard 
against the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill.
    This health reform, however, is sensible. It's straightforward. It's 
fair. It is genuinely bipartisan. It will help to give peace of mind to 
literally millions of American families. I call on every Member of 
Congress who stood up for this bill when the cameras were on to stand up 
for it now, to pass the Kassebaum-Kennedy health reform bill and to pass 
it without delay.
    If we believe that hard-working people deserve a chance to better 
their lives without sacrificing their health insurance, then we must 
pass this bill now. If we believe it's wrong to deny health coverage to 
a person just because he or she is sick, then we must pass this bill 
now. If we believe a sick child

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should not be denied health care while her healthy brothers and sisters 
are still covered, we must pass this bill now. This bill is an example 
of what we can do when we put aside partisanship and work together for 
the common good. Millions of lives will be changed for the better when 
it becomes law. We shouldn't let any special interest get in the way 
now. Let's work together and pass the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill, and let's 
do it now.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 5:45 p.m. on February 2 at the Sanders 
Lockheed plant in Nashua, NH, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on February 3.