Finally, if our working families are going to succeed in the new economy,
they must be able to buy health insurance policies that they do not lose
when they change jobs or when someone in their family gets sick. Over the
past two years, over one million Americans in working families have lost
their health insurance. We have to do more to make health care available to
every American. And Congress should start by passing the bipartisan bill
sponsored by Senator Kennedy and Senator Kassebaum that would require
insurance companies to stop dropping people when they switch jobs, and stop
denying coverage for preexisting conditions. Let's all do that.
And even as we enact savings in these programs, we must have a common
commitment to preserve the basic protections of Medicare and Medicaid--not
just to the poor, but to people in working families, including children,
people with disabilities, people with AIDS, and senior citizens in nursing
homes.
In the past three years, we've saved $15 billion just by fighting health
care fraud and abuse. We have all agreed to save much more. We have all
agreed to stabilize the Medicare Trust Fund. But we must not abandon our
fundamental obligations to the people who need Medicare and Medicaid.
America cannot become stronger if they become weaker.
The G.I. Bill for workers, tax relief for education and child rearing,
pension availability and protection, access to health care, preservation of
Medicare and Medicaid--these things, along with the Family and Medical
Leave Act passed in 1993--these things will help responsible, hard-working
American families to make the most of their own lives.
But employers and employees must do their part, as well, as they are doing
in so many of our finest companies--working together, putting the
long-term prosperity ahead of the short-term gain. As workers increase
their hours and their productivity, employers should make sure they get the
skills they need and share the benefits of the good years, as well as the
burdens of the bad ones. When companies and workers work as a team they do
better, and so does America.