Political Quotes

“Those are great editorials, and I think that they are saying what most Americans, when they have had a chance to look at the facts and think about it, what they are saying, too. I think that it is perhaps well to look at what the problem is. We can divide our health care into four segments. They are not of equal size, as you will see, but they have very disparate percentages of increases per year. Medicaid I think is increasing at about 14, 15 percent a year. That is a government-run program. Medicare is increasing at about 10, 11 percent a year. That is a government-run program. If we go into the private sector, the major part of the private sector, the rate is increasing there about 4.5 percent a year. Now, that is too much, that is above the inflation level, that has got to be brought down. That is a whole lot better than it was a couple of years ago, and it is a whole lot better than 14 or 15 percent. It is a whole lot better than 10.5 or 11 percent. The fourth category I want to mention is a unique part of the private sector, and these are large corporations, large companies, that self-insure. Now, nobody is quarreling that the quality of health care has gone down in the private sector, that they have less than half the rate of increase per year as in these government-run programs. Nobody is quarreling that the quality of health care is down. It is not down in these big companies.”