Ohio University Electronic Communication
 
 
   Date:  14-Sep-1993 10:35am EST
 
     To:  Remote Addressee                     ( _MX%"[log in to unmask] )
 
   From:  Marie-Lise Shams                           Dept:  Library
          SHAMS                                    Tel No:  (614) 593-2682
 
Subject:  clinton health-care
 
 
I am forwarding the Clinton Health Care Remarks which I had received from the
list healthplan to the whole list for those interested.  If you don't wont to
know about it, please delete now.
 
 
 
 
 
Received:  14-Sep-1993 10:36am
 
 
                   Ohio University Electronic Communication
 
 
   Date:  01-Sep-1993 05:16am EST
 
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   From:  MX%"[log in to unmask]"                Dept:
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Subject: CLINTON HEALTH-CARE REMARKS 8/15/93
 
 
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Date: 01 Sep 93 00:26 PDT
Subject: CLINTON HEALTH-CARE REMARKS 8/15/93
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From: Steve Freedkin <sfreedkin>
Subject: CLINTON HEALTH-CARE REMARKS 8/15/93
 
PLEASE NOTE:  THIS IS THE VERY FIRST ITEM TO BE SENT OUT TO THE HEALTH-
CARE REFORM MAILING LIST.  This is a one-way communications medium; you
cannot reply to this address.  If you did not receive this at the appro-
priate electronic address or you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to this
list (you are already subscribed at the address that received this message),
send a message to the following electronic address:  [log in to unmask]
 
For the Subject: line of the message, use one of the following:
   REMOVE LIST.HEALTHPLAN    (or UNSUBSCRIBE LIST.HEALTHPLAN)
   ADD LIST.HEALTHPLAN       (or SUBSCRIBE LIST.HEALTHPLAN)
   CHANGE LIST.HEALTHPLAN    (to stay on the list but with a different
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In the body of the message, indicate exactly the email address to be added
to and/or deleted from the message.
 
 
The White House has these electronic addresses for public comment:
[log in to unmask]                [log in to unmask]
 
The following is from the White House (the preceding is not).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
 
                         THE WHITE HOUSE
 
 
                  Office of the Press Secretary
   ____________________________________________________________
 
   Embargoed for Release
   Until Sunday, August 15, 1993
   at 9:00 A.M. EDT
 
 
   THE NEED FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM
 
   Prepared by the President for use in The Tulsa World on
   Sunday, August 15, 1993
 
    The economic plan passed last week by the Congress plants
   us firmly on the path to restoring the American dream. For
   the first time in many years, we're ready to make a
   meaningful down payment on the massive federal deficit and
   start a new direction.
 
     As we reduce that deficit by nearly $500 billion over five
   years, we'll strengthen the foundation for our economic
   future here at home and our position in an increasingly
   competitive world economy. We'll help American business --
   particularly small business -- by providing incentives to
   invest in research, development, and the technologies of
   tomorrow. And we'll create 8 million jobs over the next four
   years.
 
    Our commitment to deficit reduction will continue to keep
   interest rates down, giving your family the chance to own a
   home, buy a car, pay off credit cards, or borrow for
   college. For the first time in a decade, we'll also make a
   serious effort to invest in our children, to reward work
   over welfare, and to strengthen our families.
 
    But the sum of all these accomplishments -- a new economic
   direction that offers concrete improvements in the lives of
   America's broad middle class -- is only a first step. As I
   said when I outlined my economic plan last February, we
   cannot truly strengthen our economy, or ensure the well-
   being of every American family, until we reform our health
   care system.
 
    In the coming months, health care is going to be topic
   number one in America -- at our dinner tables, in our
   offices, and in the halls of Congress. As we enter this
   great national debate, there are two things that every
   American should keep in mind.
 
    First, all of us should share the same goals: guaranteeing
   that no American will ever lose health coverage
   and controlling skyrocketing health care costs. While we
   pursue these goals, we must not allow our efforts to fall
   victim to partisan bickering. Health care reform is not a
   Democratic or Republican challenge; it is a challenge for
   America and we must all face it together.
 
    Second, Americans have demanded fundamental reform and we
   must deliver. To continue down the same path -- to embrace
   the status quo -- means less security for more people, and
   health care bills that continue to rise out of control. To
   settle for incremental change is to doom our children to
   face these same questions a generation from now.
 
    But by then it will be so much worse. Because the costs of
   doing nothing are severe indeed.
 
    Every month that we wait to enact fundamental health care
   reform, two million more families will lose their health
   care -- and go to sleep wondering what they will do if a
   loved one gets sick. Rising costs threaten to bankrupt small
   businesses and stop them from creating jobs. Big businesses
   face an increasingly tough fight against our international
   competitors. Workers give up wage increases just to maintain
   their health benefits. And our deficit threatens to grow and
   grow.
 
    Today, everything that's wrong with our health care system
   is threatening what's right with American health care --
   high-quality care and the right to choose our doctor. And
   the simple fact is: we can do better.
 
    Last year, as I travelled across our nation, I met people
   who told me their stories --stories of how our health care
   system had let them down.
 
    I met a young couple in Columbus, Ohio who had three
   children -- the youngest with cerebral palsy. The family got
   health insurance through the woman's employer, a non-profit
   organization with just 20 employees. When the woman's
   youngest child was born, the company was faced with a
   choice: fire a young mother or watch their premiums go up an
   average of $200 a month per employee.
 
    I met a divorced woman with seven children who was
   successfully supporting her family on a $50,000 income. But
   when her youngest child developed a serious health problem
   with monumental costs, the only way she could get health
   coverage was through Medicaid. But that meant quitting her
   job and going on welfare. A productive American worker with
   a $50,000 income became a welfare recipient. A woman who
   wanted to work couldn't because she needed health benefits
   for her child.
 
    These stories are all too common. Working Americans face a
   growing threat from the uncertainties created by the health
   insurance system. All of us face increasing risks. If
   someone in your family gets sick, if you lose or change
   jobs, your health protection can disappear overnight. Even
   people who have fought hard for good benefits packages find
   that they are denied coverage after paying their premiums
   year after year. Just when they need their insurance most,
   the insurance company tells them to read the fine print --
   and denies them coverage.
 
    Today's system is rigged against families and small
   businesses. Small businesses don't have the clout to get
   quality health coverage at an affordable price, and rising
   costs have forced many small and mid-size businesses to cut
   back or eliminate coverage.  Nearly one of every three small
   employers say they expect that rising costs will soon force
   them to stop offering health care.
 
    Many small business owners find it impossible to afford
   coverage for their families or employees. These small
   business owners want to take responsibility for their
   families and employees, but they cannot. My Secretary of
   Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, met a furniture
   store owner in Titusville, Florida who is so strapped by the
   rising cost of insuring his workers that he had to stop
   providing coverage for his own parents, who work in his
   business.
 
     Other Americans want to start small businesses but don't
   because they're worried about putting their family's health
   security at risk. Would-be entrepreneurs face an
   unattractive set of options: start the business and go
   without health coverage, pay outrageous premiums, or don't
   start the business at all. We must change the health care
   system to encourage people to start small businesses -- and
   create jobs for America.
 
    Rising health costs also mean lower wages, higher prices
   for goods and services, and higher taxes.   The average
   worker today would be earning $1,000 more a year if the cost
   of health insurance had not risen faster than wages over the
   previous 15 years. Put another way, as the accompanying
   chart shows, by the year 2000 the average worker will have
   to work another three weeks each year just to pay for health
   care.
 
    Skyrocketing health costs create a major burden for
   American business. Every hour, American businesses spend $26
   million on health care. Health care costs add $1100 to the
   price of every car made in America -- double the cost added
   to Japanese imports. If our products are to be competitive
   in the world market, we must control health costs.
 
    Since 1980, our nation's health care costs have nearly
   doubled. Without reform, health care spending could consume
   as much as one of every four dollars in the Federal budget
   by the year 2000. But it's not only the federal budget
   that's going to suffer without reform. By the end of the
   decade, state and local governments are expected to spend
   18% of their budgets on health care --amounting to triple
   the dollars they spent in 1990.
 
    Through all of this, America still has the world's finest
   health professionals delivering the highest-quality care.
   But what we like best about our health care is threatened by
   a system out of control. Insurance company red tape has
   created a nightmare for doctors and nurses -- with mountains
   of forms and endless levels of review that waste money and
   do nothing to improve the quality of care. The average
   doctor's office spends 80 hours a month pushing paper. And
   nurses often have to fill out as many as 19 forms to account
   for one person's hospital stay.
 
    The result: according to some estimates, twenty-five cents
   out of every dollar on a hospital bill goes to
   administrative costs and does not buy any patient care. The
   number of administrators is increasing four times as fast as
   the number of doctors. Time better spent caring for patients
   is spent negotiating payments and poring over paperwork.
 
    In some cases, our health care dollars are simply being
   thrown away. According to one study, Americans spend about
   $1 billion a year on unneccessary Caesarean sections alone.
   Another recent study shows that fraud and abuse eat up ten
   cents of every health care dollar. But we spend only a few
   pennies of each dollar on preventive care, the kind of care
   that saves us money in the long run. It's time for Americans
   to get good value for every health care dollar we spend.
 
    Our out-of-control system is also threatening something
   that we all value in our health care system: choice. Of
   those companies with fewer than 500 employees, barely one in
   three are able to offer any choice of health plan. In order
   to cut costs, many employers are forcing their employees
   into managed-care plans -- often splitting employees from
   their longtime doctors.  Individuals and small businesses,
   meanwhile, find themselves with fewer choices among
   affordable health insurance policies that provide good
   benefits and offer real protection.
    Tomorrow, in a speech before the National Governors'
   Association, I will outline the rationale for my proposal
   for fundamental health care reform, and next month, I will
   spell out my plan. After living for eight months in
   Washington, I can safely say that not everyone will agree
   with all of the details of that proposal. But as we debate,
   let us consider the worst and most likely alternative: the
   status quo.
 
    If we do nothing, what health benefits will you get?  Those
   who have coverage now will get a little bit less than last
   year.  They'll face rising co-payments and deductibles.
   Premiums will increase but benefits will not improve.
 
    Will you be able to get affordable insurance? That depends
   on whether or not you have the clout to get good prices.
   Because if you're self-employed or a small business,
   insurance companies will keep charging you whatever they
   want--depending on how healthy you are or where you work.
 
    Most people will continue to get covered through where they
   work. Businesses that do offer coverage -- which is the vast
   majority -- will continue to give those who don't a free
   ride. The Tylenol that the hospital charges you $20 for
   today -- to make up for the people who end up in the
   emergency room without coverage -- may well cost you $25 or
   $30. And up to a quarter of those on welfare will remain
   stuck there solely to keep Medicaid benefits.
 
    Insurers and government will also pressure doctors and
   hospitals by second-guessing every decision. They'll have to
   jump through even more complicated administrative hoops, as
   today's thousands of forms continue to multiply. Small
   businesses will continue to pay at rates that are sky-high -
   - just to cover their administrative overhead and pay for
   their competitors who don't insure their employees.
 
    Rooting out incompetence will be left up to a medical
   malpractice system that rewards many frivolous claims and
   ignores thousands of legitimate ones.
 
    What will all this cost if we do nothing?  As much as $100
   billion next year, even more in the future.  The bulk of
   these new costs will fall on businesses and government
   budgets. Government's share of the system's costs will eat
   up more than 60 cents of every new dollar of federal revenue
   over the next five years.  And businesses' costs will
   continue to soar.
 
    If we allow the special interests in Washington and those
   who profit from the status quo to dominate this debate,
   that's what we'll get. Less security for more families.
   Costs that continue to skyrocket. And deficits rising
   without an end in sight.
 
    But if we can join together -- Democrats and Republicans --
   and embrace fundamental reform, we can take control of our
   future. Each of us must consider the cost of doing nothing -
   - and then resolve to act with the courage to change.
 
 
                            -30-30-30-