    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [July 11, 2001]
    [Pages 840-841]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With Medical Organization Leaders
    July 11, 2001

        Thank you. Be seated, please. Dr. Perry,
    thank you very much. It's great to welcome you up from Monroe,
    Louisiana. Mr. Secretary--Madam Secretary, thank you all for being here.
    It's good to see Members of the United States Congress--thank you all
    for coming; my fellow Americans.
        We've just come from a great meeting with leaders of medical
    organizations that represent over 300,000 doctors--specialists, men and
    women from around our country who are deeply concerned about the state
    of the practice of medicine, health care professionals that care deeply
    about not only the practice of medicine but more importantly the
    patients that they see, men and women whose whole life is aimed at
    improving the lives of their fellow citizens, as a result of their
    brilliant skills. We had a frank discussion about medicine today and
    where medicine is headed. And we share a concern that many patients are
    not receiving the quality of care that we would hope they would receive.
        And so we're now debating this issue in Congress, how best to
    improve the quality of care without unnecessarily running up the cost of
    medicine, without encouraging more lawsuits, which will eventually cause
    people not to be able to have health insurance.
        And there's a good alternative working through the House of
    Representatives that my administration supports. It's called the
    Fletcher bill. It's a piece of legislation which says that patients
    ought to have direct access to specialists. These men and women who
    represent specialists all across America embrace this bill, the bill
    that my administration supports, because of direct access to
    specialists. And that's important. It's a very important part of the
    legislation.
        I know there's some talk that the bill that came out of the Senate
    is the only one that the doctors in America are for. Well, I think if
    people take a good look and those who hadn't made up their mind yet in
    the House listened to the voices up here, they will hear there's plenty
    of doctors who believe that the Fletcher bill is the proper alternative,
    so patients get the quality of care they need without the fear of losing
    health insurance, without the fear that businesses, large and small,
    might decide rather than being sued all the time and, therefore, drop
    provisions for health care in total. That's something we don't want in
    our society. We want more people covered, not less. We want the cost of
    medicine not to be driven up by unnecessary litigation. The Fletcher
    bill provides safeguards.
        Now there's another issue that's important, and that is the external
    review process. It's an incredibly important part of any medical
    system--future medical system, if we want it to work. And that process
    basically says, if you're a patient and you and

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    your doc don't agree with the decisions made by the health insurance
    company, that you ought to be able to appeal to a panel of doctors. And
    if the panel of doctors rule in your favor, the insurance company is
    obligated to move forward. If not, it becomes a cause of action in a
    court of law.
        I just had the opportunity of meeting with Helen Barnes, a nurse-practitioner from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
    Thank you for being here, Helen. She was in an automobile accident, and
    ever since, she's suffered severe muscular problems in her back and her
    neck. So she and her doc thought that she ought to have a mammoplasty to
    ease her pain. Her HMO denied her request for surgery. She then appealed
    the decision to an external medical review process. They ruled in her
    favor. She took her case to an objective review
    process, a review panel, and they said she and her doc were right. And
    so she's going to receive the surgery she needs this January. I said,
    ``Why not sooner?'' She said, because she can't find time to get off
    work sooner. [Laughter]
        But nevertheless, the process works. And it's so important that we
    have a tight external review process, one that addresses patients'
    needs, not the needs of people who want to sue everybody; one that's
    focused on the patients of America so that they can take their claims to
    a panel of experts--medical experts and have their problems addressed as
    quickly and as soon as possible.
        The issue we ought to be discussing is quality of care for patients.
    That's the whole focus of medicine. And that ought to be the focus of
    any legislation that comes out of the United States Congress. And the
    Fletcher bill that is now being debated on the House floor represents
    the kind of legislation that my administration can support, that
    thousands of doctors across America support, and I believe most
    Americans will support when they hear the facts and the differences
    between the two pieces of legislation that are now being debated on the
    House floor.
        I want to thank our doctor friends for being here. I want to thank
    you for your service to your respective communities. The docs in America
    really are a part of--medical professionals are a part of really what
    makes this country great. We've got the best health care in the world--
    by far, the best health care in the world--and we've got to make sure
    that any legislation, any laws passed out of Washington, enhances the
    health care for America and doesn't hurt it. And I believe the Fletcher
    bill will help and enhance the great medical care that we have in our
    country.
        Thank you all for coming. Thank you for the endorsement of a good
    piece of legislation. And may God bless your work, and God bless
    America.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:50 p.m. in Presidential Hall in the
    Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he
    referred to Priscilla Perry, M.D., representative, American Society of
    Cataract and Refractive Surgery.