Bill Clinton: “But that's because people can't imagine how much waste there is in this system. Today, we spend over 14 percent of our…”

“But that's because people can't imagine how much waste there is in this system. Today, we spend over 14 percent of our income as a nation on health care. Canada spends 10; Germany is under 9; Japan is under 9. The German system, which is the most like what I propose, is a private system where large groups of employers and employees can work with health care providers to provide a wide range of services at low cost. But the administrative cost is much less than we have, although they cover more people and about the same number of services. Mr. Koppel. You also know, and you've heard your critics say, they look at the Canadian system, and they start counting the Canadians who cross the border and come over to Detroit, be- cause when it comes to optional surgery, optional procedures, they have to wait 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, a year. And they get so frenzied over this that rather than wait, they come over to the United States. Now, those people will tell you, ``Whatever you do, don't exchange what you've got for what we've got.''”