CNN-TV AMERICAN MORNING (7AM EST)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) – SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (D): The first rule of medicine is do no harm. And we will do no harm to the parts of our system that are working. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY (REPORTER): The plan, and the critics taking aim today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) – UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary care continues to be bad medicine. (END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS (REPORTER): Well, here we are. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has announced her $110 billion health care reform plan. It requires all Americans to have health insurance.
Senator Hillary Clinton joins me now to discuss the plan live from Washington. Good morning, senator. Thanks for being with us.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON: It’s great to talk to you, John.
ROBERTS: So, senator, you’ve learned, obviously, from past errors in crafting this plan, this is not a replacement of, this is in addition to.
CLINTON: That’s exactly right. You know, this is not government-run health care. We’re not creating any new bureaucracy. We’re trying to build on what works and fix what’s broken in our system. And that means if you’re satisfied with the health care coverage you have, you get to keep it, no questions asked. But if you’re one of the 47 million uninsured, or the millions more who can barely afford the coverage they have, or it doesn’t cover what they need, you’ll be able to go into the same plan that members of Congress have, and you’ll get financial help by getting tax credits from the government to be able to afford it in conjunction with your employer.
ROBERTS: Now some of your critics, and in fact some of your colleagues on the Democratic side are a little skeptical about this whole thing, calling it a giveaway to health insurance companies because of this so-called individual mandate that everyone, as they do with car insurance, would have to have health
insurance.
Here’s what Senator John Edwards said about that yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don’t believe you can sit at a table with drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists and negotiate an insurance plan for America. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Senator Clinton, you are the biggest recipient among all the candidates of health care dollars. What do you say to people who say that is a give away to the part of the industry that’s supporting your campaign?
CLINTON: Well, all of the critique of that I suppose is politics as usual, because the plan, of course, does have both an individual mandate and insurance reform, and I think you have to have both. I’m asking for shared responsibility.
Individuals have to do our part, the drug and insurance companies have to change the way they do business, employers have to contribute and the government has to help. I think that’s the American way to have everybody working and doing their part and taking responsibility.
And I don’t think I’m going to be nominated for insurance woman of the year. I’ve been taking on the insurance companies and the drug companies for 15 years.
But I also know that we’ve got to have a plan that reflects what Americans want, and a lot of Americans are very satisfied with the health care that they have. And as far as I know, most of the people who have looked at this on the Democratic side believe that an individual mandate is a very important way of getting to universal coverage. You help people that cannot afford to do it on their own. You help small businesses that cannot afford to make the contributions without a tax credit. You limit the amount that an individual has
to pay as a percentage of income, and you also reform the system by modernizing it through electronic medical records and making it more efficient.
So I feel very good and quite confident that the parts of the plan that I have put together will find a lot of favor among people who know what we have to do to get to universal coverage.
ROBERTS: There are some people who are critical still of this idea of mandating this individual mandate. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, for example, has declared it a war on the middle class.
But further to that, your cost estimate is of $110 billion. Can you hold it to that cost? how do you know that you’re not just going to develop and create here another huge entitlement that is going to grow with double-digit inflation?
CLINTON: Well, because we’re also going to control costs by doing things like electronic medical records, which is estimated would save us $77 billion a year. I mean, John, it’s just hard to believe that 16 percent of our economy is still in the pen and paper era instead of being part of the 21st century, like
everything else, from finance to anything you can do on the Internet. So there’s a lot we can do. Chronic-care management. Ten percent of Americans account for 70 percent of our health care costs. We can certainly do a better job incentivizing prevention. You know, why would we pay to have a diabetic’s foot
amputated, but not pay to send him to a podiatrist so that you can avoid that expense. There’s so much we can do better, and I’m excited and looking forward to doing that.
ROBERTS: Senator, we’ve got to let you go in a second, but I just wanted to touch on one other issue. You were one of the senators who voted unanimously for General Petraeus’ confirmation, and we saw that MoveOn.org last week calling him General “Betray-us.” Obviously you didn’t have that opinion when you voted for him. Do you want to distance yourself from that ad?
CLINTON: Well, I’ve never have had that opinion. And I have said publicly on numerous occasions, including at the last hearing, how much I respect General Petraeus, his service to our country.
Obviously and I have a disagreement with Republicans and with President Bush about what direction we should be heading in Iraq.
ROBERTS: So was that MoveOn.org ad over the top?
CLINTON: Well, I certainly speak for myself. And I am a very strong admirer of General Petraeus, his record of service for our country, the dedication he has brought to a very difficult job that many of us think does not have a military solution.
ROBERTS: Senator Clinton, thanks very much for being with us this morning. Good to finally get you on AMERICAN MORNING. Hope it’s the first of many occasions.
CLINTON: I do, too, John. I look forward to that.
ROBERTS: All right, thanks very much — Kiran.
