Donna Shalala Health Quotations

There are thousands of people each day whose lives and the quality of their health care are affected because we do not have national legislation that sets standards and establishes a set of rules that would ensure that they get quality care, ... That's more than frustrating -- that's unacceptable.

What we would not want to do is ... take away health insurance for adults for which there is no insurance market. If you're 65 years old, what's the market for health insurance?

Most of all, our health care professionals need to understand that federal law has not changed, that it continues to be illegal in the United States to prescribe marijuana.

We must not lose sight of the fact that it will take further action by public health officials and local communities to reduce the health effects attributed to tobacco use,

We can't wait for everybody in this country to get good health insurance, ... When you really want to close a health care gap and you do not have a single health care system, you go to every part of the country and have everybody pull in the same direction.

We're moving very rapidly into quality measures, so that Americans can control their own health care and have a better sense of which plan will provide them with quality health care,

a step forward in the battle for our children's health and our nation's future.

The National Institutes of Health will continue to review the claims about the possible benefit of smoked marijuana for a small number of indications,

Africa, Asia, every country in the world, they were all in denial. The health ministers kept assuring us they had everything under control. (Gayle) kept pushing . . . to get programs, strengthen the private sector, the public sector. She just never gave up.

The new century brings new challenges and opportunities to improve the health of everyone in the United States, ... People not only want to live a long life, but they also want to enjoy a healthy life.