Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 30, 1994                   TAG: 9401300075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

PRESIDENT: TACKLE CRISIS, DON'T DENY IT

"The only place where people say there's really no health care crisis is right here in Washington," Clinton said in his weekly radio address. "Let's face it, the health insurance system is rigged against ordinary families and small businesses."

Hillary Rodham Clinton, architect of the administration's health care proposal, struck the same tone on a West Coast swing to promote the plan, depicting those who deny there's a crisis as out of touch.

"I don't know where those people have lived," she told patients at a Nevada hospital Friday.

The Clinton-and-Clinton counteroffensive serves as a rebuttal to those who argue that problems with America's health care system are far from the point of crisis, and that the president's plan is too far-reaching and bureaucratic.

"It's time we stopped denying there's a crisis and started fixing it," the president said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, predicted that the panel will complete its work on the health care bill by early spring and said the legislation should clear Congress by midyear.

"The Finance Committee, the Republicans and Democrats are together on this," Moynihan said Saturday on CNN. "They want to do this."

The president, trying to mobilize public support as legislators tackle the details of his domestic agenda, urged Americans to help push his health care plan, welfare reform and strong anti-crime legislation through Congress.

But in the Republican response, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire complained that Clinton's health care plan and other initiatives reflect an attitude that says, "Listen, we know what is best for you. The fact that you may not agree with us simply means that you are not smart enough to understand or not compassionate enough to appreciate what we propose."

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., has argued it overstates the problem to say there is a health care crisis. But on Friday, he said the debate should not get stuck on how to describe the problem.

"I think we're making too much over whether this is a crisis or a serious problem," Dole said. He added that he thinks the Clinton administration is losing support for its health care plan, "so they're getting a little testy."

Clinton wants to require employers to pay 80 percent of average premium costs for their workers' insurance, although he has made it clear he is open to compromise on details of the plan. Some small businesses and low-wage workers would receive federal subsidies to help them pay their share.