Bill Clinton: “Oh, absolutely. I kept wondering, when I was out in California and I realized how many people were hurt or needed…”

“Oh, absolutely. I kept wondering, when I was out in California and I realized how many people were hurt or needed medical care or thrown out of their homes and maybe subject to overexposure, how many of those people didn't have health insurance, whether they didn't go to the doctor or didn't visit the hospital just because they didn't have any coverage, or whether they did, took medical care, and now wonder whether they can afford to pay for it or whether they're at risk of bankruptcy. If we would simply join the ranks of all the other advanced countries in the world and provide comprehensive health care that can never be taken away through a system of guaranteed private insurance, it would stabilize life for working families enormously. I also will say that according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office study issued about a week ago, small businesses would benefit perhaps more than big businesses because their premiums would go down and everybody would be covered. We have simply got to stop making excuses and saying, ``Well, America's the only country in the world that can't figure out how to cover its folks.'' You've got almost one in four people living in California without any health insurance--citizens, never mind the immigrant population, citizens who don't have health care. We have got to do a better job. Mr. Jackson. Mr. President, Blenda Wilson, who's the president of CSUN, would love to ask you a question if she may. And by the way, I've just realized why it was difficult for you to get through to Boris Yeltsin, sir. He was worried that you might have been calling for disaster relief. [Laughter]”