Bill Clinton: “Let me just say one thing about this to try to hammer home what I think is a very important point. All the stories…”

“Let me just say one thing about this to try to hammer home what I think is a very important point. All the stories you've heard today have nothing to do with the quality of American health care but everything to do with the system of insurance we have. And in the weeks and months ahead you may hear a lot of stories about that, but the bottom line is this: If you lived in any other advanced country in the world, you wouldn't have this problem, none of these problems. But it's not a reflection on our doctors, our nurses, our health care providers; it is the system by which we insure against risk. It can be different. I want to go on now to the next issue, because every time I say this, people say, ``Well, how are you going to pay for this? This is going to cost a fortune.'' I have an answer to that, but I want to hear from people who are talking already about the exploding costs of health care in this country. Next to the problem of security, we hear more about cost. And of course, Miss Holley talked a little bit about costs, and some of the rest of you did, too. But we have some people here who want to read letters. They're from Georgia, Pennsylvania, and California: Karen Nangle, Mary Catherine Flyte, and Brigitte Burdine. Would you please read your letters to us, or say what you'd like to say? [The participants read their letters, and Tipper Gore responded.]”