Former President Clinton Discusses U.S. Health Care Issues in Speech

Former President Clinton, speaking on Wednesday at the opening session of the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta, called the nation's health care problems "horrible for this country and the future of our economy," Cox/Miami Herald reports. In his speech, he addressed a range of health care issues, from childhood obesity in the U.S. to HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Clinton said he is collaborating with the American Heart Association on a project to study childhood obesity, an issue he said could make America's children "the first generation to have a life expectancy lower than their parents." He also cited an Emory University study that he said showed that 27% of the growth in health care spending can be related to rising obesity levels.

Clinton, who had quadruple heart bypass surgery in 2004, said the experience left him more determined to improve the nation's health care problems. "We may be the most religious country in the world, but we're also the most reluctant to go to heaven," Clinton said (Cox/Miami Herald, 8/4).