First Lady Defends Health Plan, Brands Insurers ‘Real Enemy’

Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to put the Administration’s health care plan back on track Friday, naming insurance companies and the status quo as the “real enemy” and making no mention of a rival plan gaining steam in Congress.

“Today’s health care system is rigged against families and small businesses--the insurance companies are in charge. They pick and choose whom they cover at what cost and for how long,” Mrs. Clinton said during a question-and-answer session moderated by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.

Mrs. Clinton’s strong defense came at the end of a week in which big business made strong objections to the President’s plan and amid increasing interest in a less-sweeping proposal offered by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.).

Insurers and other entrenched interests that prosper under the current health care system are “raking that money off at everybody else’s expense,” Mrs. Clinton told the Civic Center audience of medical professionals, students and civic leaders.

“The status quo is our real enemy,” she said. “The very large businesses will continue to make their best deals and everybody else will pick up the costs.”

Mrs. Clinton spoke at a forum at Children’s Hospital that is part of a series of discussions Koop is moderating. The former surgeon general is staying neutral in the health care debate, but he has praised the First Lady’s work on the issue.

Many businesses object to Clinton’s intention to require all businesses to pay 80% of average insurance premiums for their workers. Cooper would try to make insurance more affordable without requiring employers to pay for it.

Insurance companies, with an expensive national advertising campaign, contend that the Clinton plan would create a huge new bureaucracy and limit consumers’ choices.

Mrs. Clinton made no direct reference to the criticism from business, but urged her audience to “cut through the smoke screens, let’s cut through the expensive television advertising campaigns.”

The Business Roundtable, representing 200 corporate CEOs, this week endorsed Cooper’s plan as the basis for future negotiations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce rejected Clinton’s plan as even a “starting point” for further talks.