[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 3 (Monday, January 24, 2000)]
[Pages 107-111]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Health Insurance Initiative and an Exchange With 
Reporters

January 19, 2000

    The President. Good morning, everyone. I'm glad to be joined today 
by Secretary Shalala, Secretary Herman, Deputy Secretary Eizenstat, and 
OPM Director Janice Lachance. We want to talk to you about the health 
care of America's families, one of the biggest challenges we face still 
in this new century.
    Today I want to talk about two major proposals that are in my budget 
for 2001, which will help Americans to shoulder the cost of health care 
by extending coverage to millions of people who do not now have it and 
by helping Americans of all ages meet the demands of long-term care. 
These proposals are a significant investment in the health of Americans, 
another step toward giving every American access to quality health care.
    As our Nation ages and we live longer lives, we face the need to 
provide long-term care to larger and larger numbers of Americans. 
Yesterday we put forward proposals to help Americans to face these new 
challenges, first by providing a $3,000 tax credit for the cost of long-
term care--that is 3 times the one I proposed in last year's State of 
the Union--second, by expanding access to home-based care through 
Medicaid; and third, by establishing new support networks for 
caregivers. We shouldn't let another year go by without helping those 
who are doing so much to help others. And I will say again, we should 
also, this year, pass the Patients' Bill of Rights.
    We must also keep fighting to extend affordable health care to 
Americans who lack it. This is a continuing problem in our Nation, as 
all of you know. Still there are too many children who lose their 
hearing because an ear infection goes untreated or wind up in the 
emergency room because they couldn't see a doctor in a more regular way. 
Too many parents skimp on their own health to provide coverage for their 
children; too many missed chances to prevent illness and prepare young 
people to lead healthy lives--all these the products of the fact that 
tens

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of millions of Americans still don't have affordable health care.
    So today I'm announcing that my budget will set aside more than $110 
billion over 10 years to expand health care coverage. If enacted, this 
would be the largest investment in health coverage since the 
establishment of Medicare in 1965, one of the most significant steps we 
could take to help working
families.
    This proposal has four components. First, it's hard to have healthy 
children without healthy parents. We know parents who have access to 
health care themselves are more likely to get care for their children. 
And children who see their parents getting regular medical care learn 
good habits that last a lifetime. Yet, most of the parents of the 
children covered in our Children's Health Insurance Program, the CHIP 
program, are themselves uninsured.
    That's why, as the Vice President has urged, I propose to allow 
parents to enroll in the same health insurance program that now covers 
their children. I thank the Vice President for this proposal. I believe 
it can make a difference to millions of families. You all remember that 
we set up the CHIP program in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
    Second, we will work with States to reach every child now eligible 
for CHIP or for Medicaid. We've doubled the enrollment in the CHIP 
program in just the last year, as the States have really gotten up and 
going and taken the right initiatives on this. We now have something 
over 2 million children in the program.
    But still, many children are missing out. To find them, we have to 
take information and enrollment to where they and their parents are: in 
school lunch programs, in day care facilities, in centers for the 
homeless. Our budget will fund efforts to do just that, because there is 
no reason for any child in America to grow up without basic health care.
    Third, we are reaching out to Americans who have few or no options 
for affordable insurance. The numbers of people without insurance are 
growing fastest among those nearing retirement, an age when many people 
are already on fixed income or have limited health insurance choices.
    I met a woman who lost her home trying to pay medical bills on a 
retirement income while she was waiting to become eligible for Medicare. 
This shouldn't happen to anyone. I've already proposed that this group 
of Americans be allowed to buy into Medicare coverage, that is, those 
between the ages of 55 and 65. And now, this new budget will provide for 
them a 25-percent tax credit to help them do it.
    It's also hard to keep insurance for those who change jobs or are 
laid off, something that happens more and more in our fast-
moving economy. That's why we have the COBRA benefits, allowing workers 
to pay to stay enrolled in health insurance when they're laid off. But 
too many workers cannot pay the full costs themselves. That's why we're 
also proposing tax credits that will make COBRA insurance affordable to 
more people and help workers take advantage of job flexibility without 
worrying every single day that they may lose their health insurance 
coverage if they do so.
    We will also build on public and private sector insurance programs 
to help cover 19- and 20-year-olds aging out of insurance, people moving 
from welfare to work, employees of small businesses, and legal 
immigrants.
    Finally, we must strengthen the network of clinics, hospitals, and 
dedicated professionals who serve the uninsured. They care for families 
in need and help to provide the referrals that get children and parents 
into insurance programs. And their resources are stretched very thin. So 
I will ask Congress to make a significant investment in these public 
health facilities next year.
    Investing in health care coverage is a smart choice for America. 
We're meeting our responsibilities to all our American citizens, 
supporting seniors, helping make our children more ready for the future. 
I look forward to working with Congress to seize these opportunities 
this year.
    Again, let me say what I have said so many times: In my lifetime we 
have never had this much economic prosperity and social progress with 
the absence of paralyzing internal crisis or external threat. We have an 
opportunity now to really make a dent in this problem of health 
insurance coverage, in the

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problem of long-term care, and we ought to do it. I hope we will.

2000 Presidential Campaign

    Q. Mr. President, are you happy that health care is an issue on the 
campaign trail? And what do you think of Bill Bradley's plan? You seem 
to be endorsing Gore here.
    The President. His plan is more extensive than mine, too, the Vice 
President's is. But they're in a different position. Number one--let me 
answer your first question--I am elated that health care is an issue in 
the campaign. It is a good thing. It's an issue in people's lives. You 
can see that every time we debate a health care issue. You can see that 
support we got for the Children's Health Insurance Program in '97. You 
can see it in the enormous grassroots support for the Patients' Bill of 
Rights.
    And just as Hillary and I predicted in 1994, when the health care 
proposal was defeated, we said there would be an increase in the number 
of uninsured people because the cost of insurance would go up and it 
would be harder for employers, particularly smaller business employers, 
to continue to cover their employees. So I think that what's going on in 
the campaign is a great thing for America.
    Both the candidates have proposed--made proposals even more sweeping 
than the one I make today, even though if this were adopted, as I said, 
it would be the biggest expansion in health coverage since Medicare. But 
the reason--they should be doing that because they're looking at what 
they can do over 4 years, what they can do over 8 years. This is a 
proposal for this year's budget, and it is a very ambitious one-year 
proposal that will add millions of people to the ranks of those with 
insurance.
    It also is very important because of the $3,000 long-term care tax 
credit. That's something that I've been involved with, well, for more 
than 20 years now, something that I feel I know something about and I 
care a great deal about, and I believe there will be a lot of bipartisan 
support for that.
    Go ahead, Mark [Mark Knoller, CBS Radio].

Prospects of Congressional Action

    Q. What makes you think that you can get a more expansive health 
care program through Congress this year than you were able to get 
through last year?
    The President. Well, for one thing, the budget picture is clearer. 
At least so far, the Republican leadership in the Congress has not put 
on the table a tax program which would make it impossible to pay the 
debt off and make it impossible to meet our fundamental obligations.
    And I believe if you just look at what's going on in the election 
season this year, the public cares a lot about health care, and they're 
talking a lot about it. And all these people, without regard to their 
party, who come here in the Congress, they've been home talking to the 
people they represent; they've been listening to this; they know what 
their folks are up against; they know what kind of problems people face 
with long-term care. And I think they also, those with a lot of 
experience, understand how very complex this is and how difficult it is 
to add to the ranks of the insured in a cost-effective way. And this is 
clearly, based on our experience, the most cost-effective way to add 
people to the ranks of the insured.
    Let the parents of kids in the CHIP program buy into CHIP or cover 
them with our funds. And let the people between the ages of 55 and 65 
buy into Medicare and give them a tax credit to do so. Republicans, you 
know, naturally are inclined to have tax solutions to social problems, 
and in the case of long-term care, that is exactly the right thing to 
do. The tax credit is exactly the right way to go there, because there 
are so many different kinds of long-term care options out there that are 
appropriate for different families given different circumstances. So I'm 
actually quite hopeful that we can work together and get something done 
on this.

Harry and Louise

    Q. Do you think Harry and Louise will support you this time?
    The President. Well, I hope so. They've been acting like they want 
to support me. And I'd like to get together with Harry and Louise; I 
thought they were pretty effective last time, and we ought to be on the 
same

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side. So I'm hoping old Harry and Louise--I wish they would come into 
the Oval Office here, and we could have a little press conference, a 
Harry and Louise press conference, endorsing this expansion of health 
coverage.
    Q. After what they did to you?
    Q. Can we cover it? [Laughter]
    The President. You bet. I want you all to be here. It will be a 
crowded room if they come, but I'd love it if Harry and Louise would 
just sidle right on in here and say that they think this is the greatest 
idea since sliced bread, and we could go forward together. And it would 
be great.

Israel-Syria Peace Talks

    Q. Mr. President, you've spoken to President Asad. Do you have any 
reason to believe that the peace talks will restart soon?
    The President. Well, first of all, I think it's very important that 
you--I think this has been well and accurately reported, as nearly as I 
can tell. But I want to reiterate, neither side has decided to back away 
from the peace talks, call an end to them, call a freeze to them. That's 
not what's going on. They are having a genuine dispute about sequencing 
now that I'm trying to work through for both of them.
    But the good news about this is that both these leaders, I think, 
want a peace that meets each other's needs. That is, they're both quite 
mindful of the fact that there won't be a peace agreement unless the 
legitimate concerns of both sides are met.
    And I would not say the gaps in the positions are 90 percent; I'd 
say they're much closer to 10 percent than 90 percent. But keep in mind, 
these folks had not dealt with each other in a very long time. And that 
week they spent together at Shepherdstown was really the first time they 
had had these kind of direct contacts, get a feel for where they were; 
they wanted to go home and reassess their positions. And so we need to 
do some trust-building. We've got some work to do, but I'm actually 
quite hopeful.
    And I see that both sides have continued to evidence a fairly high 
level of confidence that they can succeed, and that's good news. So 
we're in a little patch here where I've just got a little extra work to 
do, and I'm working at it. And hopefully, we can do it.
    Q. [Inaudible]--Asad today or yesterday?
    The President. Yes, I talked to President Asad, I think yesterday, 
wasn't it?
    Q. But since then----
    The President. No, not since yesterday morning. But I'll be in 
regular contact with him continuously. So we're working this very, very 
hard. And of course, we're also working on the Palestinian track, and 
tomorrow Chairman Arafat will be here, and I expect to have a good 
meeting with him. You know, if this were easy, it would have been done a 
long time ago. But we're working at it, and I'm pretty hopeful.

President's Last Year in Office

    Q. Are you mournful that tomorrow is the last--the start of your 
last year in office, sir?
    The President. Yes, tomorrow is the day, isn't it?
    Q. Yes.
    The President. Well, I will certainly mark the day.
    Q. In what way?
    The President. I mean, I'll just be conscious of it, in all kinds of 
little ways. When I go in a room in the White House now, I look around 
more carefully to make sure there's something--that I've actually 
noticed something that I may not have seen. You'd be amazed when you're 
living a busy life, and you're working really hard--I bet it happens to 
you, too--how many times you walk in and out of a room, and you'll see 
something in a room that, you've been in the room for 5 years, and you 
never noticed before. So I'm sensitive to all that.
    But I'm actually very--I'm so grateful that the country is in the 
shape that it's in. And I'm so grateful that I've had the chance to 
serve. And I'm so energized about the State of the Union and, in many 
ways, in the sweep and depth of the proposals that I will make to the 
Congress and the country in the State of the Union are arguably the most 
far-reaching since the very first one I made. So I'm feeling good and 
grateful, and I just want to milk every last moment of every day.
    The only thing, I wish I didn't have to sleep at all for a year. 
[Laughter] I wish that God would give the capacity to function for

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a year without sleep. That would make me very happy. [Laughter] But I 
think it highly unlikely. Therefore, I will keep trying to get some.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:50 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Harry and Louise, characters in 
Health Insurance Association of America-sponsored television 
advertisements in opposition to the 1993 ``Health Security Act''; 
President Hafiz al-Asad of Syria; and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the 
Palestinian Authority.