Bill Clinton: “Someone said, ``No, and I'm sure glad.'' [Laughter] Well, anyway, I'll talk louder, and we'll do the best we can.…”

“Someone said, ``No, and I'm sure glad.'' [Laughter] Well, anyway, I'll talk louder, and we'll do the best we can. Something happened to it. I didn't touch it. It just happened. [Laughter] Eventually they'll get it back. If we're going to do this, we're going to have to bring that deficit down, which means as Dr. Lalmalani said, we're going to have to change the way we do health care. But there is a huge difference in making a deliberate change over a reasonable period of time and just cutting the budget out of Medicare and Medicaid to meet an arbitrary date to balance the budget for an arbitrary huge tax cut to a lot of folks who don't need that as much as they need a country with good health care, strong education, safe streets, and a balanced budget. What I want to say to you is, yes, we will have to slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid, but we should do it in a fair way. If you balance the budget in 10 years instead of 7, if you have a much smaller tax cut and you target it to the things we already said we believed in, childrearing and education, if we involve the physicians and other health care professionals in our country in making the decisions instead of just making arbitrary cuts in these medical costs, we can get where we need to go as a country and still provide decent health care and still provide a good quality of life and not divide our people even further by income and by region and by race. Now, that's what we can do. A lot of you know this because of your own practice, but if we cut too much without understanding the circumstances, we will isolate more elderly people, we will isolate more racial minorities, we will disadvantage more young children who will suffer intellectually because of the health care they don't have when they're very young. So this is a very important part of rebuilding America. [The sound system produced a loud feedback sound.] Better none at all than that. [Laughter] So I say to you, in the next 4 or 5 months, we will chart a major part of America's health care course for the future. And my commitment to you is, I will work with you. I do not want to see these decisions made without working with you. [Applause] Thank you. But keep in mind, the health care debate is an example of the larger debate I talked to you about. And you can have a huge impact on Members of Congress in both parties if you simply show up and say, ``Look, I know America first and foremost is a place where individual effort and family values count. That's why I am successful. But I live in the real America, not in Washington, DC. And I know we need a public response to society's problems if more people are going to become like me.'' That's what I want you to say to the Congress. And you can do that. And then I want you to be involved. And I want you to say, don't wait until the day before you pass this budget to point out what the changes will be in Medicare and Medicaid. Let's say it well in advance. Don't wait until one day or two days or even a week before and then jam it through. Let's say right now, if we're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid projected expenditures by the amount you say, what changes will be made in Medicare and Medicaid. Then let us tell you--I don't want anybody to get hysterical or angry or anything--let us tell you what the consequences of those changes will be. And then let's work together to do something that is good for America. We should do what is right here. And it is not necessary--I will say again--it is not necessary to dramatically undermine Medicare and Medicaid. It is not necessary to hurt defenseless children or elderly people who don't have enough to live on as it is to balance the budget. We do not have to do that. It is certainly not necessary to undermine the medical practice. It is not-- also, it is not necessary to undermine the integrity of the doctor- patient relationship. It is not necessary. And I certainly agree with you. I think--I am all for managed care plans if people voluntarily join them and if every physician who is willing to meet the requirements of the plan has a chance to practice to maintain choice for consumers. So I want to make this point again. This budget debate, because it's part of a larger social debate, can empower all of you as citizens far beyond voting, contributing to candidates, being active in political campaigns. This budget debate can empower you because every one of you can be heard by your Member of Congress. And you can say, ``I accept what you're saying that our problems require harder work, more discipline, stronger families. But it is not enough. It also requires us to work together. And I want to be heard in the health care debate. And I want you to enable America to balance the budget and meet its responsibilities to bring us together and move us forward.'' If you'll do that, I'll be grateful. Thank you, and God bless you all.”