Senator Joe Lieberman
Treating America Right: Better Care That’s Always There
Broad Acres Elementary School, Silver Spring, MD
September 2, 2003
(AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY)

Thank you, Doug Duncan, for that warm introduction, and let me also thank Superintendent Jerry Weast, School Board President Patricia O’Neill, and Broad Acres Principal Jody Leleck for having me here today.

All of you do amazing work. When you see the smiles on the faces of the kids in this school —and so early in the school year — you know that this is a very special place indeed.

Schools are places of hope, symbolizing the optimism that defines our nation. They remind us that, deep in the DNA of our democracy, we’ve never seen a problem we don’t have the courage and creativity to fix.

I want to talk with you about how we can apply that confident, can-do spirit of America to meet one of the toughest challenges of our times: fixing… our… broken… healthcare… system.

The plan I am proud to release today will make American health care work better for the American people — starting by providing affordable coverage to 31 million currently uninsured Americans.

Under my plan, if you’re a single mom and you work part-time, you will get affordable health insurance; if you’re retired at 55 and trying to live on a fixed income, you will get affordable health insurance; if you’re working for a small business that struggles with health care costs, you will get affordable health insurance; and if you’re self-employed, you will get affordable health insurance.

And only under my plan — will every child in America be able to enroll in the same kind of successful system available to federal employees, providing comprehensive care at an affordable price.

Seniors will get the medicine they need under Medicare — not just empty promises of reform.

And no American will ever again lose their health insurance just because they lose a job.

But that’s not where my health care plan stops. Unlike some of the other Presidential candidates, I understand that we don’t just need more coverage; we need better care. It’s not good enough just to get people into the system if the system doesn’t meet their needs at a price they can afford. And that’s why my plan focuses on making America healthier.

Now how can we do all this? By moving step-by-step as we get the economy going and bring the deficit down. By smartly targeting our resources first on the people who need the help most — children and workers who are falling through the cracks. By building on what works in the current system — and fixing what does not. By cutting waste and improving efficiency. And by strengthening public health, wellness, and prevention programs that will deter disease, save lives, and reduce costs.

It’s not magic; it is a workable solution. For example, to expand coverage, I am going to create new streamlined purchasing pools that will harness the best forces of the market and the positive power of individual choice.

Let me explain how these work. If you're a self-employed consultant, or part-time worker, or between jobs, right now you have to buy health insurance — if you can find it — on your own, at high rates. But my plan combines millions of people to exercise vast buying power on behalf of each of these individuals, while limiting the profits that insurance companies can make. That will help keep premiums low.

We know this will work. Why? Because these pools are based on the successful system that currently works for federal employees, who enjoy a wide range of coverage options at affordable prices.

My plan will provide coverage to more than 31 million currently uninsured Americans — at the lowest cost per person of any Presidential candidate.

Let me say that again: My plan will cover more people than the plans of Dick Gephardt, Howard Dean or John Kerry — and we will spend less money for each newly insured person than any other Presidential candidate’s plan. That’s not my analysis. It’s the conclusion of a widely respected independent health care expert, Dr. Ken Thorpe of Emory University in Atlanta.

* * *

Right now, American health care is a study in contradictions.

We have the best doctors and nurses in the world — yet too often, life-and-death decisions are made by bureaucrats.

We have the most advanced technology for diagnosing and treating diseases — yet the system sags under piles of paperwork and miles of red tape.
People fly here from all over seeking the best health care in the world — yet tens of millions of our own people have no health insurance and go without even basic treatment.

George W. Bush didn’t create these problems — but he has turned his back on them, and by doing so, he’s made them worse. He’s let the sickness and the side effects spread.

George Bush hasn’t curbed health care costs or improved health care quality. He hasn’t helped a single American get health insurance. Not one. In fact, he’s made things worse. On this President’s watch, a million Americans a year are losing their health insurance.

Presented with a health care system in trouble, George W. Bush has done nothing to heal the patient. He has committed partisan political malpractice. And America is suffering as a result.

* * *

When I’m President, we will treat the problem — with a real prescription for change.

It’s an outrage today that 9 million American children are uninsured. I’ll provide coverage to every child with a new plan called MediKids.

Now, the State Child Health Insurance Program is a breakthrough program. But overburdened state budgets and a complicated enrollment process keep coverage from 6 million kids who are already eligible to receive it. We need to support S-CHIP and build on it to ensure all our children are all insured.

That’s why our nation’s pediatricians, through the American Academy of Pediatrics, have proposed a new model, based on the federal employee program. I’ve taken their advice and built on it.

My MediKids plan will be convenient and comprehensive. There will be no cost for the neediest families who buy into the pool. Middle class families will buy in at a sliding scale. Of course, if you’re happy with your coverage, you can decline. But if you want MediKids, you’ll get it — and at an affordable price.

When I’m President, newborn babies won’t go home just with a name and a birth certificate. All American children—rich or poor—will have health insurance that stays with them from the moment they’re born, all the way to age 25.

Now here at Broad Acres, you know that our kids don’t just need health insurance — they need more and better places to get health care. That’s why I’ll create health care centers, like the one in this school, in public elementary schools all across the country. These centers will save busy families time and money — and in addition to offering direct health care, they’ll educate kids to eat right, exercise, and live healthier from the start.
 

But, God knows, health problems don’t stop at adulthood. In fact, usually that’s where they start. So — as our economy improves and the deficit comes down under the new economic leadership I intend to provide — my plan will move on to give all American adults access to affordable care.

I call this plan MediChoice. As I explained before, all workers who don’t have access to group health insurance will be able to buy into this new purchasing pool — at reasonable prices. People will be able to choose the private plan that works best for them. If you’re poor, you pay nothing. And no matter what you make, you won’t have to spend more than a small part of your income to get covered.

For example, with MediKids and MediChoice, a single mom with two children who earns $34,000 a year will pay about $157 a month to cover her family. A family of four making $58,000 a year, will pay about $365 a month.

And we’ll keep this vital promise: if you lose your job, you will not lose your health insurance. That’s right: if you lose your job, you will still have coverage.

I talk to workers all across the country. And it doesn’t matter whether you work in a factory or on a farm, or even in a doctor’s office, Americans are worried about getting laid off. And they’re worried that when that happens, they’ll get dropped from their health plan — and so will their kids. Suddenly you don’t just have to find a way to pay the mortgage. When you can least afford it, you have to spend thousands of dollars on high-priced individual health insurance, before you can even make a doctor’s appointment.

As President, I won’t stand by while Americans pray to make it through the month without their kids getting sick. We’ll offer full coverage at a decent rate to every worker — whether you collect a paycheck or are collecting unemployment. That’s what our best values demand, and it’s what the people deserve — health care that’s always there.

But if we’re going to make our system more fair and more efficient, we’ve got to do more than reduce the costs of coverage — we’ve got to reduce the costs of care itself.

I’ll rein in the runaway prices we pay, protecting both the budgets of American families and the federal budget as a whole. I’ll fight for sensible medical malpractice reform. And I’ll squeeze out inefficiencies.

Did you know that about 31 cents of every health care dollar spent in America goes to pay administrative costs? That’s right—a third of our money is going not to patient care, but to paperwork. That is going to change.

As health care becomes less expensive, it’s got to get more effective in meeting people’s needs — and keeping them healthy.

I’ll root out inequities in care. In too many cases today, the treatment you get depends on your gender, the language you speak, or even the color of your skin. That…will…change.

Every year, more than twice as many people die as a result of health care errors than are killed by highway accidents. My plan will cut medical errors in half within five years.

And most exciting of all, my plan will focus on finding cures for the chronic diseases, from cancer to heart disease to diabetes, that now afflict one-third of all Americans — 100 million people.

I recently met a man whose son has Caravan’s disease. He told me that stem cell research carried the promise of a cure — but that the Bush ban was blocking that research from happening. I promised him and will promise every parent like him: on my first day in the Oval Office, I will rescind George Bush’s regressive restrictions on stem cell research.

And I’ll lead us to a better way — by creating the American Center for Cures, whose mission will be to translate the breathtaking research that’s being done in labs across the country today into lifesaving cures for all Americans.

To me, that’s what America is all about. We don’t just manage problems—we solve them. When I am President, we won’t just treat diseases—we’ll cure them.

My friends, over the years people have created the problems in our health care system. And now, we the people must fix them.

When I’m President, we will not shrink from this challenge. We can and will meet it—with a sense of purpose and a sense of hope… and a confidence that is, well, contagious.

Thank you.