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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For
September 22, 1993
LA.Se..
REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY
IN INTERVIEW WITH DAN RATHER
';;.:=.-~~:-~~-::::---';.:::.:.;.-.......;:;
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MR. RATHER: Good evening, and welcome to our special
live edition of "48 Hours." We've moved to an office just
off the floor of the House of Representatives or (inaudible)
where. President Clinton himsel~ has just detailed his vision
of health care reform.
Now, involved -- very involved from the very beginning,
start to finish -- in preparing this plan and deeply involved
in trying to convince the Congress tqpass is, is the First
Lady of the United states of America, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton, welcome. Thank you for being with us.
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MRS. CLINTON:
Thank you.
MR. RATHER: When you walked in, it was pretty clear you
were excited and, als0l. maybe a little nervous. AmI wrong
,about that?'
MRS. CLINTON: No, you are absolutely right. I kid my
husband a lot that I get so nervous for him and I get so
nervous for my daughter when she qoes something, that
oftentimes, if I'm on the sidelines ,of a sports event for her
or watching him make a speech, I'm more nervous than they
are.
MR. RATHER: Next week begins the 'hard, really hard
chore, of trying to sell this to Congress, and you'll be
lead-off witness. Are you nervous about that?
t~e
MRS. CLINTON: I am. But I'm also very excited and very
committed, because I think that it is going to happen. Like
the ,President said tonight in his speech, it will happen this
year, because we can't wait any longeri we can't afford to
let the system continue to do what it's doing.
So I think all of us are very ready to'take on this
challenge (inaudible) the challenge.
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MR. RATHER: You've been working hard already to
introduce this plan to people, sell the plan. Are you having
fun with this or is it all just hard work? It looks to be
very (inaudible).
MRS. CLINTON: Well, it is~ but it's also fun because I
met so many wonderful people all around the country. I
have been in the living rooms of farm families talking about
health care problems; I've been sitting on loading docks
talking to people who told me their issues; and I've spent
lots of time with doctors and nurses and others, who have
given me the ideas that are in this plan about what we can do
and how we can do it better.
~ave
I have fun seeing people who really care~ being involved
in solving problems, instead' of just wringing their hands and
talking about how terrible 'things are. So it's been a great
experience for me.
MR. RATHER:
(Inaudible). First, let me run down a
checklist and,'if you will -- and this can be very short
just give me a yes or no answer.
will every legal resident of the United States be
covered under this, including the 37 million now that are not
covered?
.
MRS. CLINTON:
MR. RATHER:
taxes?
MRS. CLINTON:
Yes.
will this entail any major increase in
No.
MR. RATHER: Will this help reduce the deficit, perhaps
by as much as $91 billion (inaudible)?
MRS. CLINTON:
Yes, it will help reduce the deficit.
MR. RATHER: And will all this be accomplished without
reducing the quality of health care (inaudible)?
MRS. CLINTON: Yes. It can be done. And the reason is
can be done is because~ as the President pointed out, 'leading
experts like 'Dr. Koop know that we spend billions of dollars
in efficiently and wastefully already~
I think, for many Americans, it is a personal experience
that they have had. They know that there is waste in the
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system.
They may not know how much there is.
But we are committed to getting that out and using the
savings that .will be available once we get the system working'
more efficiently and not imposing any kind of new big tax on
Americans, because why would we' want to put even more money'
on top of a system in which there are so many savings that we
should be able to realize first? And that's how we think
about it.
MR. RATHER:
(Inaudible) you said yes, it would cover
the 37 million not covered; yes, very legal resident in the
country is covered; yes, it would help increase the deficit;
no (inaudible). ~t sounds too good to be true.
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I think that it may because we're
not used to what other countries take for granted, Dan. I
think that's been one of the biggest surprises to me that I
have learned about this, and I have. tried to study, since I
didn't know and ·wasn't an expert when I started.
Most countries with whom we compete spend less money per
citizen on their health care system, insure everybody inside
their borders, and provide more benefits than most of OU!
. average insurance policies do here .
. One example we have. here in our country that does nearly
the same is Hawaii which, because employers are required to
cover their employees, nearly lOO'percent of all Haw~iians
have access to health care. They emphasize primary and
preventive health care. They spend less money. per citizen
than we do in the rest of the country.
I think there are enough examples, whether we look at
that state or look at the Mayo Clinic, like the .President
cited, that is one of the finest health care facilities in'
the world. They haven't raised their rates as fast as many
other parts of our health care system have. In fact, they've
kept them below 4 percent this past year.
We know it can be done because it's being done allover
the United States. .It's just not being done everywhere at
the same time.
MR. RATHER: . The President underscored that no one
should think that this comes without sacrifice., It is going
to have to be paid for. As I understand it -- correct me if
I'm wrong ~- the emphasis in the present (inaudible) is one
that requires businesses to take a lot of the cost .
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The Republicans have proposed an alterriative, as I
understand it, (inaudible) individuals. Why is President
Clinton's plan better 'than that of the Republicans?
MRS. CLINTON:
I think the first thing I would like to
say is that we are very impressed by the Republican approach
because there are so many features in common.' The
Republicans believe that there does have to be an individual
requirement. Every individual has to be insured, just as
some states now require people to have auto insurance.
We think that the burden ought' to be shared, as it is·
now in our country, between employers and employees. But
we're not that far apart, once we recognize that we cannot
get to universal coverage unless we require people to make a
contribution.
The reason ·that the President believes that the
system will work better is because it's
what is already working. That's ~he first point. Most of us
get our insurance through our workplac,es.
employ~r-employee
Secondly, because there are many businesses now that are
bearing the full load because of those businesses that are
not making any contributions, many employees who are bering
the full load because other employees aren't making any
contribution at all.
And I think the other point is that we would worry that
if individuals were required on their own, we wouldn't know
quite how to keep track of all of them and' we would worry
that employers who now insure employees would stop doing so
because there wouldn't be any reason or certainly any
requirement for them to continue doing so.
But I would like to stress the way those two ~pproaches
are similar, and we will be working with the Republicans on
their proposal and sharing all of the details behind ours.
The real bottom line is we want everybody in the system; we
want everybody insured; and we want to spread that burden
fairly so that every· person has some kind of contribution to
take responsibility for their health care.
MR. RATHER:
(Inaudible) negotiation has been done' and
the President has said and you have said it in as many words,
that this isn't written in stone.
But what is non
negotiable?
MRS. CLINTON:
•
I think that the principles the President
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has laid out are non-negotiable. The details as to how we
fulfill each of those principles we are open to discuss.
But, for example, we believe we have to have every
American insured. Any plan that would ont result, in every
American being insured as soon as possible is something that
we don't think ,will work, that we will only have to revisit
the problem if :we do not get every American insured. That's
an example of a principle that we believe very strongly in.
But the details as to how we would actually achieve that is
what we're goin~ to be talking about in this country.
MR. RATHER: And true or untrue, that there is going to
be built, to achieve that, another huge government
bureaucracy (inaudible)?
MRS. CLIN1oN: No, not true., Right now we have,
. probably, as the President sa~d, the most bureaucratic health
care system in ithe world, both in our federal system through
our programs of; Medicare and Medical.d,and in the private
system, where insurance compani.es have millions of forms and
all kinds of checks that check the checkers and all the
things that we now pay for that we don't need.
We think we will immensely simplify the system. We will
remove a lot of' the bureaucracy and the regulations from it
and we will keep striving, as we develop th~s bill, to get it
as slim and as :inexpensive as it can be. We don't want to
spend money on ;forms for people to fill out. We don't want
to take nurses :away from the bedsides of very sick children.
We want the money'we spend on health care to go to health
care.
MR. RATHER: (Inaudible). Is it possible (inaudible)
that when this gets through, whether it passes or not, that
we will reach t,he point where a First Lady, any First Lady,
can be judged on the quality of her work?
MRS.' CLINTbN: I hope that every woman will be judged on
her work, her contribution to her family, what she thinks is
important. I am very grateful for this chance to not only
~elp my husband but serve my country.
It's very important to
me.
But I think all of the women who have been in this
position before, me have made their contributions, and I don't
want to substit:ute one stereotype for another. I want every
woman, whether 'she be married to a President or out there
supporting a fa~ily as a ,single parent or everything in
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between, to feel that she is a worthy, valuable person who is
making the contribution that is right for her. That's what I
hope we will be able to do. If I"ve contributed in some way
to helping women be seen as who they are and not as how
someone else expects them to be, I think that would be good
for all of us. ,
MR. RATHER:
(Inaudible). Did you or didn't you find
(inaudible) "wonder how I can keep Bill talking about health
care?" Or was ,there a time when he just said, "Hillary, I
love health ca~ei I'm into it. But can you please talk about
something, else?"
.
.
MRS. CLINTON: We've had to impose moratoriums on each
.other during t,ne last eight months, you know, "No more talk,
no more talk about any of this business. We're just going to
watch a movie or, you know, have some fun." We've,
had to remind each other of that.
MR. RATHER: Speaking C;;f (i'naud,i.ble), I'm told
repeatedly that you're prepared to go to hell and back if
necessary to sell this program to the American people., But
the question, are you prepared to do, as Vice President Al
Gore did to (inaudible), are you prepared to pay the ultimate
price and (inaudible)?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I don't know about that. I mean,
you got to draw the I ine somewhere. I'm' not sure about' that'.
He was awfully good, though. I thought he was terrific.
MR. RATHER: Thank you very much, Hillary. We
appreciate you ;coming. Thank you for (inaudible).
MRS. CLINTON:
Thank you.
,
MR. RATHER: And now let's go back over to the
(inaudible) Office Building and (inaudible).
(End of tape.)
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Dublin Core
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Title
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Lissa Muscatine - Press Office
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First Lady's Office
Press Office
Lissa Muscatine
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1993 - 1997
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36239" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431941" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
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2011-0415-S
Description
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<p>Lissa Muscatine first served in the Clinton Administration as a speechwriter. Within the First Lady’s Office, she served as Communications Director to the First Lady.</p>
<p>Lissa Muscatine’s records consist of materials from First Lady Hillary Clinton’s Press Office, highlighting topics such as health care, women’s rights, the Millennium Council, Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, and deal extensively with press interviews given by the First Lady; her domestic and foreign travel; and speeches and remarks, on a wide variety of topics, given by her before and during her time as First Lady. The records include interview transcripts, press releases, speeches and speech transcripts.</p>
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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1,324 folders in 27 boxes
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FLOTUS Press Office Interview Transcripts Volume I 01/29/93---9/30/93 [Binder]: [09/22/93 Rather, Dan CBS]
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Box 2
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/2011-0415-S-Muscatine.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431941" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Creator
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First Lady's Office
Press Office
Lissa Muscatine
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2011-0415-S
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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11/26/2012
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2011-0415-S-flotus-press-office-interview-transcripts-volume-i-01-29-93-9-30-93-binder-09-22-93-rather-dan-cbs
7431941