My Life, by Bill Clinton: on Health Care
Bill Clinton:
Loosen eligibility for disability benefits
[As Arkansas Governor], I was upset with the Reagan administration. It had just dramatically tightened the eligibility rules for federal disability benefits. There had been abuses of the disability program, but the Reagan cure was worse than the problem.
The regulations were so strict they were ridiculous. In Arkansas, a truck driver with a ninth-grade education had lost his arm in an accident. He was denied disability benefits on the theory that he could get a desk job doing clerical work.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.313
Jun 21, 2004
Bill Clinton:
Security,simplicity,savings,choice,quality, & responsibility
I was scheduled to present the health-care plan to a joint session of Congress on Sep. 22. I explained the problem--that one system cost too much and covered too few--and outlined the basic principles of our plan: security, simplicity, savings, choice,
quality, and responsibility. Everyone would have coverage, through private insurers, that would not be lost when there was an illness or a job change; there would be far less paperwork because of a uniform minimum-benefit package; we would reap large
savings through lower administrative costs.Under our plan, Americans would be able to choose their own health plan and keep their own doctors, choices that were vanishing for more and more Americans whose insurance was carried by health maintenance
organizations (HMOs).
If the system I had proposed had been adopted, it would have reduced inflation in health-care costs, spread the burden of paying for health care more fairly, and provided health security to millions of Americans who didn't have it.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.547-549
Jun 21, 2004
Bill Clinton:
Universal coverage would reduce bureaucratic costs
I was beginning to believe we [Hillary and Bill] might actually have honest debate that would produce something close to universal coverage.
The bureaucratic costs imposed by insurance companies were a big reason Americans paid more for health care but still didn’t have the universal coverage that citizens in
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.555
Jun 21, 2004
Hillary Clinton:
1993 health plan initially praised as moderate & workable
[Under the Clinton health plan], everyone would have coverage, through private insurers, that would not be lost when there was an illness or a job change; there would be far less paperwork because of a uniform minimum-benefit package; we would reap
large savings through lower administrative costs.I proposed that all employers provide health insurance, as 75% of them were already doing, with a discount for small-business owners who otherwise couldn't afford the insurance.
The subsidy would be paid for by an increase in cigarette taxes.
Hillary, and all those who helped, had crafted a plan that we could implement while reducing the deficit. And contrary to how it was later portrayed, health experts generally
praised it at the time as moderate and workable. It certainly wasn't a government takeover of the health-care system, as its critics charged, but that story came later.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.548-549
Jun 21, 2004
Page last updated: Feb 19, 2019