[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[July 8, 2000]
[Pages 1396-1397]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
July 8, 2000

    Good morning. With fewer than 40 days left on the congressional 
calendar, I'd like to speak with you about how we can seize this moment 
to modernize Medicare and help all seniors afford the prescription drugs 
that can lengthen and enrich their lives.
    It was just 35 years ago this month that President Johnson signed 
the Medicare Act into law. He spoke of Medicare joining Social Security 
as a cornerstone of our society upon which the hopes and dreams of 
generations of seniors could securely rest. He directed our Nation, in 
his words, ``never to ignore those who suffer untended, in a land that 
is bursting with abundance.''
    Over these past 35 years, Medicare has proven to be a remarkable 
success. Before Medicare, nearly half of America's seniors didn't have 
any health coverage at all. Serious illness often wiped away in an 
instant all the savings families had put away over a lifetime of hard 
work. Today, nearly every senior has the security of basic health 
coverage. And since that time, elderly poverty has fallen dramatically, 
and Americans over 65 have the highest life expectancy anywhere in the 
world.

[[Page 1397]]

    Yet, for all its successes, Medicare has not fully kept pace with 
the miracles of modern medicine. The original Medicare law was written 
at a time when patients' lives were more often saved by scalpels than 
pharmaceuticals, when many of the lifesaving drugs we now routinely use 
did not even exist.
    No one creating Medicare today would even consider excluding 
coverage for prescription drugs. That's why we've proposed a 
comprehensive plan to provide voluntary prescription drug benefits that 
are affordable for all seniors, a plan that ensures that all Medicare 
beneficiaries, no matter where they live or how sick they are, will pay 
the same affordable premiums, a plan that covers catastrophic drug 
costs, a plan that is part of an overall effort to strengthen and 
modernize Medicare so we won't have to ask our children to shoulder our 
burden when we retire.
    Across the Nation, we've seen a great outpouring of support for 
adding such a prescription drug benefit. And yet I'm increasingly 
concerned that efforts in Congress are bogging down. One reason for this 
is clear: The pharmaceutical industry has unleashed a shameless, 
scorched-earth campaign to thwart the will of the American people.
    An industry-funded group calling itself Citizens for Better 
Medicare--can you believe that?--has flooded the airwaves with negative 
ads against our plan. Just this week we learned that the drug companies 
have enlisted nearly 300 hard-gun lobbyists, more than one for every two 
Members of Congress, and paid them to do everything in their power to 
block all meaningful reforms. All told, the drug industry has spent a 
staggering $236 million on its lobbying efforts. These millions would be 
a lot better spent on research for new medicines.
    The pharmaceutical industry is pushing Congress to adopt a private 
insurance program rather than a Medicare prescription drug benefit. 
Insurers, themselves, however, say this won't work, and they won't 
participate. Just today we learned that the State of Nevada is using a 
private insurance model that's very similar to the plan passed by the 
Republican majority in the House of Representatives last week. Not 
surprisingly, it has not found one single qualified insurer willing to 
participate.
    You have to give it to the insurance companies; they have been 
honest here. They have said that the Republican plan won't work. It's a 
plan designed for those who make the drugs, not for the seniors who need 
to take them.
    So today I call on Congress to reject that approach and the reckless 
campaign of narrow special interests, and act together in the public 
interest. We need a prescription drug benefit that works for seniors and 
people with disabilities, not just for the pharmaceutical industry.
    A few weeks ago I put forth a good-faith proposal to do just that. I 
said that if Congress will agree to pass a plan that offers affordable 
Medicare prescription drug coverage to all seniors and people with 
disabilities, while protecting our hard-won fiscal discipline, then I 
will sign a marriage penalty relief law of equal size.
    At this time of year it's natural that we begin to think ahead to 
election day, but let's keep in mind, as well, the spirit of common 
purpose we just celebrated on Independence Day. That's the spirit I hope 
Members of Congress will bring back to our Nation's Capital when they 
return to work Monday. At a time when America is once again bursting 
with abundance, there shouldn't be a limit on what we can achieve.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the 
White House.