    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [July 10, 1999]
    [Pages 1184-1185]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    July 10, 1999

        Good morning. Today I want to talk to you about our Nation's duty to
    ensure that all America's seniors can enjoy their golden years as
    healthy as modern medicine will allow. I want to talk about my plan to
    strengthen and modernize Medicare and the important steps we can take to
    encourage older Americans to undergo health screenings that can save
    their lives and improve the quality of their lives.
        For 34 years now, Medicare has been the cornerstone of our efforts
    to protect the health of the disabled and our seniors. Last month at the
    White House, I unveiled a fiscally responsible plan to secure and
    modernize this vital program for the 21st century. The plan will
    strengthen Medicare by controlling cost, promoting competition, and
    dedicating a significant portion of the budget surplus to keeping the
    Trust Fund solvent until the year 2027. And my plan will modernize
    Medicare by matching its benefits to the latest advances of modern
    medicine.
        Since Medicare's founding in 1965, a medical revolution has
    transformed health care in America. Once the cure for many illnesses was
    a scalpel; now, just as likely, it's a pharmaceutical. That's why I made
    helping seniors afford the prescription drugs essential to modern
    medical care a key part of the Medicare plan.
        But even as we modernize Medicare with the prescription drug
    benefit, we also must modernize Medicare's preventive care benefits.
    Today, doctors have new tools to detect and prevent diseases earlier and
    more effectively than ever. And for millions, early detection can mean
    the difference between a full recovery and a bleak prognosis. For
    instance, if prostate cancer is caught early, the survival rate is 99
    percent; but if it isn't, the rate can be a discouraging 31 percent.
        In 1997 we worked across party lines to expand Medicare coverage for
    preventive services. But too few seniors still are using this benefit.
    Last year just one in seven older women received a mammogram covered by
    Medicare. For many seniors on fixed incomes, who every day must struggle
    to pay for food, rent, and other necessities, the cost of even a modest
    copayment can be prohibitive, and that can cost lives.
        It makes no sense for Medicare to put up roadblocks to screenings
    and then turn around and pick up the hospital bills its screenings might
    have avoided. No one should have to undergo a dangerous surgical
    procedure that could have been prevented by a simple test. No senior
    should have to hesitate to get the preventive care they need. That's why
    my plan will eliminate the deductible in all copayments for all
    preventive services, for cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and other
    diseases.
        And because 70 percent of beneficiaries still do not even know about
    all of Medicare's preventive services, we'll launch a nationwide
    campaign to inform and encourage seniors to take these tests. We'll keep
    looking into ways to improve preventive care for seniors, including
    strategies to help them stop smoking.
        In the meantime, I call on older Americans to take advantage of the
    preventive benefits that already are available to you. They could save
    your life.
        We must seize America's moment of prosperity to strengthen and
    modernize Medicare for the 21st century. There are some who propose
    spending our new budget surpluses on tax cuts. Well, I support tax cuts
    for retirement savings, for child care, for education, but it would be
    wrong to spend our hard-earned surplus on tax cuts before we first have
    honored our obligations to our seniors and to all our families in the
    21st century. First things first.
        I've invited leaders of both parties to meet with me at the White
    House on Monday to discuss the urgency of acting on Medicare now. We
    have an unprecedented opportunity to prepare Medicare and Social
    Security for the retirement of the baby boomers and to pay down our
    debt, to make America debt-free over the

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    next 15 years. We can't let this opportunity slip away. Together, we can
    find a way to make this summer a true season of progress for all
    Americans.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 11:20 a.m. on July 9 in Room 210 at
    the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA, for broadcast at 10:06
    a.m. on July 10. The transcript was made available by the Office of the
    Press Secretary on July 9 but was embargoed for release until the
    broadcast.