FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/June 18, 1996 CONTACT: Joan Meehan [202/651-7020] Clinton Commends Nurses' Commitment to Health CareWashington, D.C.--President Clinton applauded the selfless commitment of the nation's nurses to health care delivery during a packed session today at the Americans Nurses Association's Convention and Centennial Celebration. "Our country has the finest health care system in the world and nurses are the heart of that system," Clinton said. Speaking of his mother, Virginia Kelley, who was a nurse, Clinton stated "I learned from her, and America learns from nurses every day." ANA President Virginia Trotter Betts, JD, MSN, RN, also spoke of nursing's high ideals in her introduction of President Clinton. "We, the leaders of the American Nurses Association and our international colleagues, are celebrating a centennial of our commitment to health care as a right...and the value of nursing as an essential profession," Betts said, referring to ANA's 100th anniversary this year. She spoke of ANA's endorsement of Clinton in 1992 and the association's subsequent work with the administration on several issues, including health care reform, tobacco use by children and teen pregnancy. In addition, ANA and the White House have worked together on issues crucial to nursing--direct Medicare payment for services for advanced practice nurses, increased funding for nurse education programs and protecting the patient's right to quality health services in all facilities and the right to know about the quality of that care. "These are issues that nursing cares about and these are the issues that this president cares about," Betts said. The president discussed and expressed gratitude for ANA's efforts in health care reform and credited the association for helping to counter the threats to Medicare and Medicaid late last year. "I will never forget as long as I live the way the American nurses worked with the First Lady to try to get health care for all Americans," he said. He pledged to continue those efforts and to forestall any future attempts by Congress to reform Medicare and Medicaid in such a way as to threaten the access of vulnerable populations to affordable and quality health care. To improve the access to health care for 25 million Americans, Clinton asked for nurses' support on the Health Insurance Reform Act (the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill), which currently is being debated in Congress. "No worker should have to worry about losing health care if he or she loses a job," Clinton asserted. "No one should have to worry about being denied health coverage simply because they or someone in their family has a pre-existing condition. I want you to leave town only after you have given a clear signal to Congress: Pass this bill now.' " Clinton also asked the nation's nurses today to help in his administration's efforts to reform the welfare system by providing more and better opportunities for Americans while demanding more responsibility. He announced for the first time three health actions that his administration is taking to strengthen the child support enforcement system and promote parental responsibility: implementing a new program that will help track non-paying parents across state lines, challenging all states to adopt statewide new hire reporting programs and issuing new regulations requiring women who apply for welfare to comply with paternity establishment requirements before receiving benefits. Listing the administration's success on welfare to date--75 percent more families under reformed state systems and 1.3 million fewer people on the rolls--Clinton reminded listeners that much still remains to be done. Noting the criticism he received for vetoing Congress' national welfare reform proposal, Clinton stated, "It was too tough on kids and too light on work. "I want a bill that promotes work, strengthens families and encourages independence," he said. "Our proposal is about giving people more opportunities and demanding more responsibilities...I thank you for demonstrating responsibility at work, and for most of you, at home as well throughout your lifetimes," Clinton stated to the nurses. "We must say to every American citizen You ought to be as responsible in your life every day as the nurses of America are in their lives. This country works with opportunity and responsibility--we cannot have one without the other." In closing, Clinton again offered high commendations to nurses for the jobs they do every day. "You make me very proud to be president of an America with people like you." The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.2 million Registered Nurses through its 53 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. View the text of ANA President Virginia Trotter Betts' endorsement of President Clinton.
|
