US Concern Over Pharmacy Promotion

In a televised prime-time press conference, President Bill Clinton has said that, in the two versions of health care reform coming to the floor of Congress (see page 13), there is a clear choice. He refused to say which he prefers, noting that any bill that emerges from a conference committee is likely to differ from what is passed in each House separately.

The coming floor debates, he stressed, should serve to create a climate for action among the US public, who he urged to write to their Senators and Congressmen to put away partisanship and vote for solving this basic problem. Skeptics were wrong about disastrous effects after the passage of both his economic plan and the North American Free Trade Agreement, he said, and they will be wrong about any ill effects of health care reform.

Changes To His Plan "Are For The Better" Changes made to his health care plan in both Senate and House versions are for the better, he said; the bills are not bureaucratic, more flexible, have a reasonable phase-in time, use a competitive market to keep costs down, and have more support for small business. He pointed to Hawaii's health care system to show that reform can work, noting that it's OK to take a few years to get to universal cover; the central reality is what is important.