Bill Clinton 1996 On The Issues

Fighting for Quality Health Care

President Clinton is fighting hard for health care reform.  He is dedicated to guaranteeing health security for all Americans and to containing health care costs for families and businesses. Over 40 million Americans have no health insurance and millions more are just one illness away from losing it.

President Clinton will continue to work to make health care available to all Americans, improve the quality of health care, strengthen Medicare and Medicaid, and expand coverage. The President is fighting for healthy families by:

	Enacting the Kennedy-Kassebaum health insurance bill that will benefit as many as 25 million Americans. This law expands and protects access to health insurance by limiting exclusions for pre-existing conditions and by allowing people to keep coverage when they change or lose their jobs.
	Signing legislation that requires health plans to allow new mothers to remain in the hospital for at least 48 hours following most normal deliveries and 96 hours after a Caesarean section.
	Signing into law mental health parity provisions. The President signed into law legislation to prohibit health plans from establishing separate lifetime and annual limits for mental health coverage.
	Strengthening the Medicare Trust Fund. The President’s 1993 economic package included policy and structural changes that extended the lifetime of the Trust Fund by three years. This was enacted without one Republican vote. The President’s balanced budget proposal will extend the life of the trust fund by 10 years from today.
	Protecting the Medicaid guarantee for children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. The President vetoed the Republican’s proposal to block grant the Medicaid program, guaranteeing health care coverage or benefits to 37 million beneficiaries. The President also presided over the approval of 12 Medicaid waivers to cover 2.2 million previously uninsured Americans.
	Issuing guidelines to eliminate easy access to tobacco products by children and to prohibit companies from advertising tobacco to kids. The President’s goal is to reduce smoking by children by 50 percent within seven years.
	Increasing childhood immunizations. The President’s childhood immunization initiative includes community-based educational efforts, more affordability, and better detection. In 1995, 75 percent of two-year-olds were fully immunized -- an historic high.
	Making women’s health a priority. President Clinton has increased funding for breast cancer research at NIH by 79 percent. He launched the Women’s Health Initiative -- the largest clinical study ever on diseases that affect older women. He has ensured the inclusion of women of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in research and evaluation of drugs and medical devices.
	Enacting the Violence Against Women Act -- the first national effort to reduce violence against women. This act has already devoted $156 million to give law enforcement the tools to punish criminals who prey on women and children. The act also created a nationwide 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline (which has already received 50,000 calls) to provide immediate crisis intervention, counseling, and referrals.
	Signing the Brady Bill, which has already prevented more than 60,00 fugitives, felons, and stalkers from buying handguns. The President recently expanded this bill to prevent individuals who commit acts of domestic violence from buying guns. He also signed the Assault Weapons Ban, which banned 19 of the deadliest assault weapons. Every year, at least 39,000 people die, and 100,000 are treated in emergency rooms because of gun violence.
	Expediting the FDA review and approval of new drug products. U.S. drug approval time is now as fast or faster than any other industrialized nation. Average drug approval times have dropped since the beginning of this Administration from almost three years to just over one year.
	Making investment in AIDS programs a top priority. The President has increased funding of programs for AIDS research, prevention, housing, and treatment by 56 percent, including the Ryan White CARE Act.
	Increasing funding for veterans’ health by nearly $1 billion to provide resources for the health care of 43,000 more veterans.
	Signing legislation to provide health care and rehabilitative training for children of Vietnam veterans who are born with spida bifida.
	Increasing Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates for the Indian Health Service by $65 million to provide quality health care for American Indians and Alaskan Natives.
	Introducing regulatory reform efforts in the Department of Health and Human Services that will reduce department regulations by 23 percent.

Building on Our Progress

President Clinton remains firmly committed to guaranteeing health security to all Americans.

That is why he is proposing to:

	Extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund until 2006. The President’s Medicare savings (of $116 billion) and structural changes will extend the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for approximately ten years from today.
	Increase the choice of plans for Medicare beneficiaries by adding a Medicare Preferred Provider Organization option, a Provider Sponsored Organization alternative, and an HMO with a point-of-service option. The President’s Medicare proposal also includes “competitive bidding initiatives” that will make Medicare a more prudent and effective purchaser of health care services.
	Add new preventive benefits for Medicare beneficiaries by providing for: full coverage of mammography screenings, a colorectal screening benefit, diabetes case management, and preventive injections for pneumonia, influenza, and hepatitis B.
	Take the first steps to providing long-term care by establishing a respite benefit for families of Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s Disease.
	Give states more flexibility to administer Medicaid by eliminating the burdensome waiver process for both managed care and home- and community-based care alternatives to institutionalization. The President will continue to protect the guarantee of meaningful health benefits for millions with disabilities, pregnant women, poor children, and older Americans in need of nursing home care, and also make it easier for states to expand coverage.
	Provide for a “Workers’ Transition Insurance” benefit. This proposal will build on Kennedy- Kassebaum by helping to assure that previously insured people who are looking for a new job can afford to keep their health insurance. This proposal would help approximately 3 million Americans keep their health insurance, including 700,000 children.
	Provide for a “Workers’ Transition Insurance” benefit. This proposal will build on Kennedy- Kassebaum by helping to assure that previously insured people who are looking for a new job can afford to keep their health insurance. This proposal would help approximately 3 million Americans keep their health insurance, including 700,000 children.
	Empower small businesses to access and purchase more affordable insurance. This will be accomplished through the use of voluntary health purchasing cooperatives (HPCs) by providing access to Federal Employees Health Benefit Plans, overriding restrictive state laws, and giving grants to establish and operate HPCs.
	Prohibit health plans from restricting medical communications. Currently, some health plans require doctors to sign contracts that may inappropriately limit their ability to give patients information about referrals and alternative treatment. The President’s “anti-gag” initiative will encourage physicians to discuss a full range of treatment options with patients.
	Create an advisory commission on consumer protection and quality in the health care industry.
	Expand health care options for older veterans. The President has proposed the “Veterans Medicare Reimbursement Project of 1996,” legislation to open the VA system to Medicare- eligible veterans in a number of cities. This measure will allow the VA to receive reimbursement from Medicare, improving access to care for older veterans while lowering costs to the VA system.
	Contribute to the World Health Organization’s initiative to eradicate global polio by the year 2000.

Source: Bill Clinton for President 1996 Web Site