For Immediate Release Office of the
Press Secretary October 26, 2002
President Bush Signs Two Bills to Improve Health Care
Radio Address by the President to the Nation
THE PRESIDENT: America's health care system has advantages no
other nation can match, but also challenges we cannot ignore. The
quality of American medicine is excellent, yet too many Americans
live in communities lacking good clinics and basic health care;
others are forced to wait for new medical devices that are delayed
in an overburdened approval process. And the high cost of
prescription drugs is placing a heavy financial burden on many
Americans, especially our seniors.
This week, we are taking steps to address all of these problems.
Today, I have signed legislation that will expand the number of
community health centers across the country. Community health
centers are America's health care safety net, providing prenatal
care, checkups and preventative treatments to anyone who walks in
the door. They serve more than a million people, mainly in remote
areas or in inner-city neighborhoods, places where too many people
do not have the access to the quality health care they deserve.
I have set a goal of creating 1,200 new and expanded community
health centers by the year 2006. The bill I signed today will help
my administration achieve this goal. If Congress funds my budget
request for these important health centers, we can help an
additional 1 million Americans get health care in 2003, and 4
million more by 2006.
Also today, I'm signing legislation that provides faster access
to safe and effective medical devices. Each year American companies
are creating new technologies to save and improve lives,
technologies like coronary stints and increasingly sophisticated
pacemakers, which have helped reduce the death rate from heart
disease by 35 percent since 1980.
Medical devices are often very complex and require careful
testing before they're approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
But the FDA is overwhelmed by the volume of new technologies, making
delays more frequent, and undermining the quality of device reviews.
Under the new law, we're going to speed up and improve the
approval process. Companies that manufacture medical devices will be
required to pay a reasonable fee to the FDA, so the FDA can afford
more expert staff to conduct thorough reviews within reasonable time
limits. The entire nation will benefit from a faster approval of
lifesaving innovations.
Earlier this week, I also announced action to bring lower cost
generic drugs to market more quickly. Right now, some brand name
drug companies are using legal maneuvers to delay the approval of
generic drugs, sometimes for years. We're setting new limits on
those delays. By reducing the public's wait for quality generic
drugs, we will reduce the cost of prescriptions in this country by
more than $3 billion each year. These savings will help employer
health plans, state Medicaid programs, and seniors who buy medicines
on their own.
On health care reform, we still have much work ahead of us. I
applaud the House of Representatives for passing a prescription drug
benefit for seniors, and for its efforts to fix the nation's badly
broken medical liability system, which is driving up the cost of
medicine and driving good doctors out of the profession. I'm
disappointed that the Senate has failed to act on these important
reforms.
With these reforms, and the actions we have taken this week, we
will bring the benefits of our health care system into the lives of
more Americans. Thank you for listening.
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