Bill Clinton: “Good morning. Although my voice has been a little hoarse, I want to speak with you this morning about your voice, about…”

“Good morning. Although my voice has been a little hoarse, I want to speak with you this morning about your voice, about how you can make the difference this week to help secure the vital health care protections you've long deserved. Like many of you, I've been appalled by the tragic stories of men and women fighting for their lives, and at the same time forced to fight insurance companies focused only on the bottom line. I've met the husbands and wives of those who have died when insurance companies overruled a doctor's urgent warnings. I met a former HMO employee who broke down in tears when describing how callous delays wound up costing a 12-year-old cancer patient his leg. If we work together, we've got the power to put patients first once again. Just this week Governor Gray Davis signed into law an ambitious health care reform package, giving 20 million residents of California a strong and enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights. Now it's time to do the same for every American, because it doesn't matter whether you're from California or Connecticut or anywhere in between; families all across our Nation need greater patient protections at this time of great change in medical care. My administration has worked hard to do its part. Through executive action, we've granted all of the patient protections we can give under law to more than 85 million Americans who get their health care through Federal plans.…”