Bill Clinton: “But let me tell you what--[applause]. I know you all have a lot of questions. Let me just make some general points about…”

“But let me tell you what--[applause]. I know you all have a lot of questions. Let me just make some general points about this. Our analysis shows--and let me say, we have consulted with health care finance experts in Fortune 500 companies, in big accounting firms. We have talked to everybody we can talk to who have dealt with the health system for years. They believe that if we can get the kind of savings we know are there--keep in mind, in the American health care system, we spend 10 cents on the dollar more on paperwork. That's more than $80 billion a year more than any other country, a dime on the dollar more just on shuffling paper. If we can get the savings that I talked about last night, they believe that 63 percent of Americans that have health insurance will pay the same or less for the same or better coverage, that the people that have virtually no insurance but just a skeleton policy will pay a little more, and that young single workers, because they'll go into community ratings with people who are older and sicker, will pay about $6 more a month. Now, that's what they think. Why? With only a modest--I mean, a cigarette tax, not modest but a little under $1--and a fee on the big corporations who opt out of the system and continue to self-employ---- Mr. Koppel. You haven't decided on alcohol yet----”