Ruth J. Simmons Quotes

In health care, the biggest imperative is: Fix those who cannot get insurance without changing the world for everyone else.

Every second, every day, every year, we fail to address demand for reproductive health and family planning services. Lives are lost, and girls' opportunities to thrive and contribute to their country's development shrink. These are real people.

Women are half the population and they know how to take care of themselves, if they are only given access to health care.

Some said he couldn't take on the insurance companies that were ripping us off. But President Obama made the tough and right call to save lives, save Medicare and ensure no one goes broke just because they get sick.

The U.S. government has been preoccupied with health care 'reform,' but this refers to improving access and insurance coverage and has little or nothing to do with innovation.

The decision is not whether or not we will ration care. The decision will be whether we ration care with our eyes open.

Because we spoke so loudly, opponents of reproductive health access demonized and smeared me and others on the public airwaves. These smears are obvious attempts to distract from meaningful policy discussions and to silence women's voices regarding their own health care.

Half a million women die each year around the world in pregnancy. It's not biology that kills them so much as neglect.

We have a country that wants to believe it is the best in everything, but until all of us embrace the idea that health care should be a right, not a privilege, our system cannot be glibly described as, quote, 'the best in the world.'

We need a vibrant Medicaid program and strategies to expand affordable access to health care for all, especially for the specialty care services that community health centers do not provide.

I fully support a national health care program for the U.S.

No doctor should ever have to call an insurance man to ask permission to treat a patient who is standing right there.

The United States has the best sick care system in the world, however, the health care system remains fragmented and limited, particularly for African Americans who carry a disproportionate burden of disease, hunger, homelessness, and poverty.

We support reproductive rights and will stand with women and men around the country to support keeping abortion and birth control safe, legal and accessible.

We ration health care now. We just don’t ration very rationally.

Logic cannot support the premise that health care is a right. Health care is a service that is administered by another human being with the requisite skills and knowledge. To claim that healthcare as a "right" is to claim a right to the services of the health-care provider. In effect, this means you are claiming a "right" to a portion of that person's life – both a portion of the time already spent developing his skills, and a portion of the time spent practicing those skills on you.

We don't have a health care system. We have a health care maze.

In poor countries, we still need better ways to measure the effectiveness of the many government workers providing health services. They are the crucial link bringing tools such as vaccines and education to the people who need them most. How well trained are they? Are they showing up to work?

For women, access to reproductive health care isn't a political issue.

Health care should be a right; it should never be a privilege. We should have Medicare for all in this country.

We have to bring relief as fast as possible to people who are struggling under Obamacare.

Decisions about your health should be between you and your doctor, not a bureaucrat and an insurance company. Let's expand choice rather than limiting it. Let's create jobs instead of destroying them. And let's bring down the costs instead of driving them up.

Democrats stand ready and willing to work with President Trump to improve upon the ACA - but we will not sit by and watch him sabotage the health care of millions of Americans.

I've never personally had to use a Planned Parenthood. But I have many friends who have and do and did, and I think it's important that that access be there for everyone.

I have always stood up to protect women's access to safe and legal abortion, birth control and health care at Planned Parenthood.