Bill Clinton: “You wouldn't, would you? Yes, it costs some money, but you wouldn't do as good a job as you do. All over America, we are…”

“You wouldn't, would you? Yes, it costs some money, but you wouldn't do as good a job as you do. All over America, we are paying today for the fact that we can't figure out what every other advanced country's figured out how to do: how to provide basic health care security that can never be taken away. And I think it's time to do it. Our plan does it by building on what works now. One of the things that you'll be hearing about--I get tickled; I read these ads of these folks that are so desperate to keep the system we have now, and they say, ``Oh, the President wants to have the Government take over the health care system.'' It isn't true. What the President wants to do is to keep the system we've got now and give it to everybody: guaranteed private health insurance, private doctors, private providers, a private system. That's what I want, and that's what our bill would require. Our approach guarantees people the right to choose their health care plan. Like I said, you've got three choices in your plan. That's what our plan does. Most American workers don't have three choices anymore, and you know it as well as I do. So what is this big myth that we're doing? And a lot of the plans competing with us would drive workers down to one choice, the least expensive HMO. That may be a good plan. A lot of these HMO's give great care at low cost, but one of the reasons is they have some competition, they have an incentive to do it. So if you have a choice, you will be more likely to choose that and have good quality health care. Our approach protects the early retirees and finds a way to help companies pay for it to spread the cost of that, to make General Motors, our steel companies, a lot of our other companies far more competitive. Our approach reinvests savings from the Medicare program into drug benefits and long-term care benefits for elderly people. It doesn't just take them away the way some others do. And our approach completely outlaws insurance company discrimination. Others say, ``Well, we make insurance companies cover everybody.'' Yes, well, you can get insurance now; we have universal access now if you've got $10,000 or $15,000. There's universal access to this truck, but only people with the money can pay it, right? There's universal access to the truck right now, right? So don't fall for all this rhetoric about universal access. Everybody in America has access to this truck right here. But they can't make it. Our approach says it is wrong to charge old people more than young people for health care just because they're older. Look, the number of young people is going down; the number of old people is going up. People are going to want to work longer. The fastest growing group of Americans are people over 80--[inaudible]. We cannot afford to set up a system where people can't afford to hire older workers. We can't do it. We need it for America's productivity. We have got to have that. So this is really not about whether we're going to put the Government in charge of health care. The Government is involved in health care. That's what the Medicare program is all about, and most of you would hang me from the highest tree if you thought we were going to repeal it, wouldn't you? I mean, right? It's not about that. The Government is involved in health care. Our plan does not put the Government in control of health care. What it does is to reduce the control of the insurance companies and give more influence to workers and businesses. That's what our plan does. And that's what I think we ought to do. Now, let's face facts. There are some tough choices. If you have 39 million people without any health insurance and you're going to require people who are working who have no health insurance and their businesses to pay, well, they're going to be paying something they weren't paying. And then if you have to find a way to cover the people who aren't working but who aren't poor enough to be on Medicaid, we have to find some money for that. So it's not easy. How do we propose to pay for it? We believe the fairest way is to ask every employer and every employee without health insurance to make some contribution. We think that's fair. We know that small businesses have a tougher time, and there are limits on how much small businesses can pay under our plan. We understand that. That is the most controversial issue. But I don't see how you can possibly cover everyone unless you are going to tax people who are already paying too much for their health care to pay for people who ought to be paying something, or unless you require them to cover themselves. Now, I think that's the fairest way to do it. And if you don't cover everybody--you heard Mr. Smith say it--if you don't find a way to cover everybody, General Motors will repeatedly be paying too much because the people that don't have health insurance will get health care when it's too late and too expensive. They'll show up at the emergency room, they'll show up at the hospital, and then the cost will be passed on to you. And meanwhile, untold misery will be reaped in the lives of people all across the country. But now, that is a tough issue. And that is the toughest issue. What should the benefits be? Our bill prescribes the benefits. And they are similar to the ones you have. We emphasize preventive care so people can get annual checkups and things like that. Other approaches say, well, let somebody else decide the benefits. I don't believe the only choice in this country for workers who have no health care should be the least expensive HMO because if that's true, they won't have the competition necessary to maintain high-quality care. So I think we should have choices in the benefit package. I don't think that we can do it without limiting the payroll contributions that some small businesses have to pay and that others should pay. And I don't believe we can do it without giving small business the power to band together so they can buy insurance on terms as good as General Motors or the Federal Government can buy it. They've got a legitimate gripe there. And we're trying to address that. But what I want you to know most of all is, most of what you hear in this debate is about a world that doesn't exist. They say, ``Oh, Bill Clinton is going to take choices away.'' That's not true. We're going to guarantee more choices to most workers. You've got three choices today. Most workers don't, and you know it. So don't let people put that kind of smoke out there. They are saying we are getting the Government into health care. That's not true. We're moving the insurance companies out of the driver's seat and letting the people and the businesses have more influence. And that's what we ought to do. Look, I know there's a lot of money in this. And there are a lot of good people who work for those companies. But you just have to ask yourself whether we can afford to continue to spend 40 percent more than everybody else and not cover everybody. You're going to hear how, well, inflation in health care costs has gone way down because of the competition. It has; it goes down every time there's a serious threat to reform the health care system. And you let them kill my bill and you watch what happens to medical inflation for the rest of this century. It will go right back up again, just like it has every time in the last 50 years as soon as the interest groups could kill a serious plan at health care reform. Folks, we have involved hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of doctors and nurses and business people and even folks from the insurance industry in trying to put this plan together. Is it perfect? Of course not. Is it complicated? It has to be; this is 14 percent of our income. How many of you have complicated health care circumstances? This is a complicated issue. But the basic issue is simple: Should every family have health insurance that can never be taken away? Should we keep the great American system of private health care providers and even private insurance? Should we make sure that we do what we can to emphasize primary and preventive care? And should we pay for it by asking people who don't pay anything to pay something for their own health care? You know how other plans pay for covering people without insurance? They want to tax the benefits of people with good health care plans and their companies. You're already paying too much for health care. Why should you pay more in taxes to pay for people who haven't paid anything for their own health care? I don't get that, and I don't think it makes sense. Now, we're going to go back to Washington, and we're going to have a debate on this. We're going to pass the crime bill. But don't forget, crime is also a health care issue. That's what's filling the emergency rooms on the weekends. We're going to work on welfare reform. But don't forget, if you want people to stay off welfare, they've got to be able to have health care for their children. We're going to keep bringing the deficit down. But don't forget, someday we'll be spending money we ought to be spending on education and training on health care because inflation is destroying the Federal budget all in health care costs. I am telling you, if you want us to do what you do here, if you want us to get together and get things done, if you want partnership not partisanship, if you want progress not petty politics, if you want us oriented on the future and not the past, we have got to deal with the health care crisis in America. And we're going to have to have your help to do it. Thank you, and God bless you all.”