Bill Clinton: “Health care reform will enhance the quality and range of services you can get. It will require everybody to pay…”

“Health care reform will enhance the quality and range of services you can get. It will require everybody to pay something, but it will place limits on that something. Let me just say, one of the things that people who are HIV-positive or people who have AIDS will get out of this program is that we will cover for the first time, in all health care plans, prescription medicines. And there will be a copay and a deductible, but there will also be an annual limit. So for someone like you who has very expensive medical bills for medicine, you would benefit enormously from that because of the very reasonable copay and deductible and annual limit. Let me say something in your behalf. All the rest of us would gain, too, for this reason: A lot of people, like this gentleman, who have AIDS can't get health insurance anymore and are forced out of the workplace. And all of us are better off if everybody in his position can work as long as possible, can be independent as long as possible, can be self-supporting as long as possible. And we need a health care system where employers can afford to properly and fully ensure their employees without going broke so that they can live as long and as well as possible. But you would be much better off under our plan because you get choice of doctor, adequate care, and prescription medicine would be covered after a modest effort required on your part.”