Bill Clinton: “We will basically have, I think, two assurances of quality of care. First of all, the plans that will be provided and…”

“We will basically have, I think, two assurances of quality of care. First of all, the plans that will be provided and the prices that will be offered in these plans will be influenced heavily by the physicians and the other caregivers. But there will be a lot of incentive to lower cost, because your administrative cost would be so much lower. Secondly, the National Government, as happens now with the Government in different ways, will prescribe certain quality standards, and then each State will offer information to people in these plans about not only the price of services but the outcomes. For example, as you probably know, Pennsylvania now has a program in which they presently publicize the price of certain services and the outcomes. And it enables people to make judgments about both quality and price that they couldn't otherwise make. So we're going to give consumers more information, we're going to give professionals more capacity to figure out how to manage the system while maintaining quality, and we will have ultimately, Government standards as the guarantor of quality practice. Mr. Koppel. Go ahead, Doctor, if you want to make one more quick comment. Then we've got to go to a break. [Dr. Brook asked about flexibility to allow different family members to receive care from different medical sources.]”