Bill Clinton: “I am trying to arouse the citizens of this country. I've seen scare tactics. I've had them used against me and what I…”

“I am trying to arouse the citizens of this country. I've seen scare tactics. I've had them used against me and what I was trying to do. I saw a couple hundred million dollars worth of scare tactics last year when I was trying to secure your health care future. So I know all about scare tactics. I'm not trying to scare you, but I think it's wrong for people to go around with this little plan to mess with your Medicare and try to keep the details of it secret until the 11th hour, then pop it through and have it all gone. And I think we need to--this is like a covey of quail. We need to flush it--[laughter]--get it out there and see what's going on here. Go ahead, what were you going to say, ma'am? [A participant said that she was concerned that Medicare cuts could affect the number of older women who get mammograms.] Mrs. Clinton. Well, I'm glad you raised that because we've got the experts back there who run this program, and we know that one of the barriers to older women getting regular mammograms is cost. And if we make the cost of Medicare even more expensive for older people in general, but particularly women, then the preventive health care that they need--which will save us all money if people take care of themselves and get those tests--will be lost as well. And I want to say one other thing because I think this is part of the--sort of the scare tactics as well that are being used. A lot of people say, ``Well, families should take care of each other and families should be there for each other and the Government shouldn't do it.'' The majority leader has said, you know, he doesn't want any part of Medicare; it shouldn't be a program in any free country, and everybody should take care of themselves. Well, I think everybody in this room certainly and most people I know around the country do everything they can to help their parents. Your daughters came to take care of you, and you're grateful that they could. And we will continue to do that, financially, emotionally, in every way we can. But there are two, I think, realities we have to look at. There are a lot of older people who don't have those children and those grandchildren. There are a lot of older people who have outlived their children, who don't live anywhere near their children or their grandchildren, who are in no position to be able to get any help. What we are going to do with them, particularly all these older women who are on their own? And the second thing is that because a lot of young people are struggling very hard for themselves I have no doubt they would make the sacrifice if they had to, but with the cost of medical care, my goodness, we will drive more young people into poverty if they have to spend all of their assets to try to help take care of their parents and their grandparents. That's why what we're talking about here is something that doesn't just affect older Americans. It affects every single American, no matter what our age. And I hope that people will understand that more. [A participant suggested that the President should express his plan to reform Medicare very clearly to avoid confusion about the differences between his proposal and the Republican proposal.]”