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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