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Clinton, Bill

President Clinton Discusses Healthcare Reform with Business Leaders

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

President Clinton met with Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Roger Altman and Norman Gott, Chairman and CEO of PictureTel, a company that provides healthcare coverage to its employees, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on May 16, 1994. The President addressed allegations that his administration's healthcare reform proposal would increase prices for medical insurance, emphasizing that it would actually allow small businesses to provide low-cost coverage through mandated discounts.

Key Takeaways:

  • The President's healthcare reform proposal aims to provide guaranteed health insurance for everybody, with a focus on covering employees through the workplace.
  • Small businesses would benefit from discounts and market power under the proposal, allowing them to provide affordable health insurance to their employees.
  • The President emphasized that the proposal is necessary to control costs, have a fully efficient and effective system, and be a humane country.
  • Studies by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office have shown that the proposal would create more jobs and help the small business sector over the long run.
  • Norman Gott, Chairman and CEO of PictureTel, expressed his support for the President's healthcare program and asked what businesses like PictureTel could do to help pass the program.
  • The President encouraged businesses like PictureTel to contact Members of Congress, describe their business, and make it clear that providing health care for all citizens is crucial for the American economy.

Statistics:

  • The President has studied the healthcare problem for years and talked to hundreds of employers.
  • Small businesses provide health insurance today at very high rates because they don't have market power.
  • The Congressional Budget Office has done a study that shows the proposal would create more jobs and help the small business sector.
  • The teleconference with Norman Gott and Deputy Secretary Altman began at 2:47 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

Sources:

  • The President's speech transcript from the teleconference with Deputy Secretary Rocker Altman and Norman Gott on May 16, 1994.

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