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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Internal Use Only
November 12, 1993
INTERVIEW OF THE FIRST LADY
CLEVELAND TV - WEWS, WJW, AND WKYC
Q -- unique in terms of all (inaudible) basically
we are such a world-renowned medical community here. More
than $100 million is spent on research. Thousands of people
depend on research for jobs in Cleveland. Your plan doesn't
really -- the critics say it doesn't have enough money in it
for research. How will that impact jobs, our jobs, for
research here in Ohio?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, actually it has more money
than we would have if we don't reform the system. There is-
as I was talking to some of the doctors today over at the
Rainbow Hospital, there is money set asid~ for research and
to support our medical schools.
I feel very strongly about
that.
Because medical research not only provides good jobs.
It also provides breakthroughs that can help save money and
save lives. So we are actually supporting, with more
funding, basic research.
Q
How much more funding?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, billions. The kind of funding
that we are talking about will be putting at least four
billions dollars more over five years than would otherwise
have gone intQmedical sChool, research and education.
Q Where will you get the money for that when our
country is four trillion in debt? .
MRS. CLINTON: Because we are in debt over our
refusal to solve our problems. We continue to think we can
get something for nothing, and we continue to deny
responsibility. We are beginning to see a turnaround now.
The President's budget is beginning to turn around the
business climate. We are beginning to see jobs.
Interest
rates are the lowest they have ever been. We are beginning
to see the debt go down because finally we have a president
willing to be responsible.
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It's the same thing in health care. The biggest
part of the federal deficit is runaway health care costs,
just like it's the biggest part of business and individual
family spending problems. And if you have everybody in the
system, nobody gets a free ride anymore, every employer and
employee contributes, then you will have a much firmer
funding base tha~ you do now.
And if you have a comprehensive benefits package
that stresses'preventive' care, you will begin to eliminate
the, kind of expensive care that comes because people don't
have insurance for preventive care, so they show up at the
Emergency Room, which costs many times more than what it
would cost if they had gone to a doctor's office, for
example.
Q But you. are talking about having employers pay
for a part of the care. Small business people I talked to,
the little hair shop owner I my brother who owns a small
heating and cooling business, he can't afford to pay even a
portion l a small portion. He is going to have to close up
shop.
MRS. CLINTON:' Oh l that/s just nonsense~ I mean, that's
the kind of scare tactics that we are fighting every day
around the country. You know, most businesses, who have
insured in the past'l many of the small businesses, like the
small business that I met this morning over at the hospital l
who talked about how hard it has been to keep trying to
provide insurance because of the crazy insurance market we
have, most small businesses that currently provide insurance
will save money. Most small businesses that do not, in a
reformed insurance market, are going to be given discounts
that will make it more than affordable.
I often ask small businesses I if they have been in
business long enough; did they 'ever absorb a rise in the
minimum wage. Because we had three increases in the last 15
years. Most small businesses have. And you know what? We
are asking small businesses to pay much less, to give secure
health benefits to themselves, their families and their
employees than we would if we raised the minimum wage. So
that's just a scare tactic.
And I want every business person to sit down and
really study this plan, look at the discounts that will be
available for small businesses, because it will be
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affordable, ,and it will give everybody something they ,don't
have now, which'is health security.
Q
The'y are scared, though.
MRS. CLINTON: Sure. Change is always a little
scary. But there certainly is a lot of room for more
information and education. And what I ask is that people get
the truth and don't listen to the ten-million-dollar ad
campaign against the President's plan,' the kind of barrage of
literature that comes out of the special interests' lobbies
in Washington; ask themselve?why are these people working so
hard against reforming a health care system that if we do
nothing, no matter whether you are small business, big
business, self-employed, you are going to have more and more
trouble finding affordable health care. Could it be they
like' the, system the way it is because it is the source of
their profits and money.
I think once you look at it with a much more
objective critical eye -- and we've got lots of people in the
Small Business Administration in Washington who stand ready
, to help explain how this will work ~- most businesses are
going to be very excited by this plan.
What about the people who like their health'care
the way it is now? They are comfortable with it. Why
reinvent the wheel and change the entire system? Why not
focus on just the areas that need reform?
Q
MRS. CLINTON: We are not reinventing the wheel.
We are building on what works. And most people who are
satisfied with their health, care, are already paying too much
for that health care. We are not changing anything about the
health care. The hospitals in Cleveland, the doctors and
nurses in CI~veland, they are going to be available to take
care of the people of this area.
What we are changing is how much it costs. We
think it costs too much, and it's not right. So we are not
changing the way the system w,orks at all.
Q Why will most of this plan go into effect after
the next election? Are you afraid that it might hurt the
President's chances -
MRS. CLINTON:
Oh my gosh..
If I could have my way
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I would do it next week. You know, you have to get it passed
through Congress. And we hope that will happen in 1994.
Then you have got to give every state a chance to get it in
place because we are going to be looking at the states and
make sure it runs right, so that Ohio is not going to be
treated just like Vermont. They have different problems. I
think we are doing it as quickly as we can do it. The
President would obviously love to see it done sooner instead
of later, but getting this kind of reform done takes time if
we are going to do it right. And we intend to do·it right.
So that's what the timetable is.
A PARTICIPANT:
certainly up to speed with this.
MRS. CLINTON: No. This is what I am here for
because I want everybody to ask whatever questions they have,
and keep asking them. I feel very good about that.
There are a half a dozen or so health plans
around Washington, and they have been studied for
a long, long time. They are very complex, very confusing.
What in the world should the average person do to try and
understand the nuances of all of these plans?
Q
circula~ing
MRS. CLINTON: Well, they should read this book
that the President is putting .out which explains the health
care plan. I am going to give you your own copy of it -
Q
Oh, great.
MRS. CLINTON: - because I want you to read it,
too. But they should ask themselves what do they want out of
health care. reform. Because what most people want, is, they
want to know they'will always have health care coverage.
They want to know they will have good, comprehensive benefit;
they are not going to .be ripped away by the fine print when
they need them most. They want to know that they are not
going to be eliminated from health care coverage because they
have a preexisting condition or a lifetime limit on their
policy. They want to know that they are going to have choice
of the doctors and the hospitals that they choose to go to
when they have a health care problem. And they want to know
that this is going to be affordable for them, for the
country.
Those are the big questions that I think most
people ask. And as they ask they will get information that I
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think will lead them to conclude that the only plan that
really has addressed every issue, and has tried to think
through all of the hard questions, is the President's plan.
And that's why I am doing as much as I can to help educate
people so that they can make the right decision.
Q Let's talk about the affordability just a
second. It's linked to business; obviously. Why is it so
important for you ,to maintain the link of employment to
health care? Why not create a tax structure that does it
through the government? Because it appears that the
government shou·ld be more solid than businesses can
oftentimes be.
MRS. CLINTON: What we think we ought to do is to
build on what does work in America. And the employer-based
system has worked for a great number of Americans over the
years because it provided a good funding stream that enabled
both employers and employees to make their contribution.
If we were to eliminate all of the private investment in
health care, that currently exists, we would have to raise
taxes about 400 to 500 billion dollars, which would be a very
big tax increase for millions and millions of hardworking
Americans.
Instead, if we provide a system that asks every
American employer and employee to make a contribution, then
we build on what works. We don't disrupt what is familiar
for most people. Most people who work are used to getting
their insurance at their work place. But we have made some
changes in it that we think will make it work better. The
individual will get to choose the health care plan. Not the
employers. So that the indiv~dual will become aware of what
the real costs are and will be. able to go where that person's
doctors and hospitals are. But we think this is the best way
to keep what works in the American health care system, but
just make it work for 'everybody.
Q Right now, as proposed, it's an 80-20 split;
employer paying 80 percent, employee paying 20 percent.
There are a lot of companies out there that say they can't
afford a 50-50 split much less 80-20. How are you going to
compromise that with some of the smaller busine,sses that say
they simply cannot afford it?
MRS. CLINTON: So many of the small businesses that
are concerned are thinking about the health insurance market
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as they know it today. And they are absolutely right. The
way the system works now discriminates against small
business. Small business pays a much heavier load of
administrative and overhead costs 'for the insurance they
have. We are eliminating those kinds of discriminatory
,practices.
We are making it a level playing field for the
first time so that small business and self-employed people
will have the same rights as the largest employers who have
been able to bargain for better rates. In addition, we are
going to be giving discounts to the smallest of employers, so
that in addition to being able to bargain more efficiently,
to get better health care insurance, they are going to be
able to get discounts.
And I ask small businesses all th~ time, who come
in to see me, because I am very sensitive about this -- my
father'was a small business owner, very small business, and I
think I know a little bit about what the stresses are. I ask
.them if they 'have had to live through a minimum wage
increase. And most of, them have because we have raised the
minimum wage several times in the last years.
We are asking less ofa contribution than the
mlnlmum wage would ask. And many people in Congress have
supported raising the minimum wage, and would do so again.
We think we can pay less on an hourly basis and get something
that the minimum wage can never guarantee, which is health
security for everyone. And small business and self-employed
businesses get to deduct 100 percent of the cost of health
care. So we think it's a very good affordable deal.
Q Well, right now medicine is more or less a
commodity. The rich can afford just about any type of
commodity they want. The poor people, obviously the larger
percentage, can't afford as much. But this is a levelling
kind of situation. I wonder if I basically, you are
guaranteeing, through your plan, basic coverage, but not the
best.
MRS. CLINTON: No. Actually, we are guaranteeing
comprehensive coverage that is equivalent to what the best
companies, the Fortune 500 companies, have been able to
afford and offer to their employees. The reason we can do
this is several: First, because we provide preventive health
care, which most insurance policies ~till don't today, we
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will catch problems earlier, we will be able to solve health
problems at a cheaper cost than we could if we let them get
to the point where someone had to go in the hospital. It
makes common senses if you provide prenatal care. You are
going to have fewer problems when babies are born.
(Tape 1, side Bend)
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Lissa Muscatine - Press Office
Creator
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First Lady's Office
Press Office
Lissa Muscatine
Date
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1993 - 1997
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
<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>
Identifier
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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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Paper
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FLOTUS Press Office Interview Transcripts Volume II 10/93 - 01/28/94 [Binder]: [11/12/93 WEWS, WJW, WKYC Cleveland]
Is Part Of
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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
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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11/26/2012
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2011-0415-S-flotus-press-office-interview-transcripts-volume-ii-10-93-01-28-94-binder-11-12-93-wews-wjw-wkyc-cleveland
7431941