    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [July 11, 2002]
    [Pages 1207-1212]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Prescription Drugs in Minneapolis, Minnesota
    July 11, 2002

        Thank you all very much for that warm welcome. I appreciate you
    coming out today and giving me a chance to talk about how do we work
    together to make America a more secure place and a better place for all
    of us. And part of making sure America is a better place for each and
    every one of us and a more secure place is to make sure we've got a
    health care system that is responsive and vibrant and alive and well and
    a place--a system that will really relate to each and every one of us as
    an individual, give each and every one of us a chance, as we grow older,
    to have a health care system that we can be proud of and confident in.
        That's why I started my day here in Minnesota at the University of
    Minnesota Medical School. You were probably wondering why Yudof was relevant. [Laughter] That's because he hosted me
    at a fine medical school. And there I had the honor and opportunity to
    talk to some fellow Minnesotans about how to advance medicine, some of
    the research that was taking place. I talked to some patients and heard
    from some of our elderly about how--what kind of system was necessary to
    have the quality of life that we want for each and every one of us.
        It's--the key is to make sure that we advance medicine in a way that
    makes sure that our citizens get access to new drugs, new lifesaving
    drugs, unbelievably innovative drugs that have changed medicine as we
    know it. And it starts with making sure our seniors have got a guarantee
    of a prescription drug coverage in Medicare. That's where it ought to
    start. It ought to start with our seniors, who have paid their dues.
        And as we do so, as we look at Medicare to make sure it includes
    prescription drugs, we must make sure that whatever system evolves does
    not undermine the great innovations which take place in America. And
    that's important to remember, that as we debate this issue in Congress,
    as Congress debates the issue--and of course I'm watching attentively--
    [laughter]--that we do not undermine the great strength of the

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    American system, which is the capacity to be on the cutting edge of new
    technologies which save lives.
        The House has passed a good first step, by the way, in reforming and
    making sure Medicare is modern and capable. And I hope the Senate acts
    quickly and gets a responsible bill into conference so that we can get a
    bill to my desk, and we can get moving to doing what is right for the
    American people.
        I appreciate so very much Tommy Thompson traveling with me today. He is--he has been a fine, fine
    Secretary of Health and Human Services. He was a great Governor of
    Wisconsin, and he has brought a lot of innovation to--[applause].
        There's a lot of folks I could introduce. I want to introduce one
    other person, a person I had the opportunity to meet at the airport when
    I came in. One of the things I like to do is to herald kind of the quiet
    heroes of our society, those who volunteer to make their communities a
    better place. I met Pearl Lam Bergad when I
    came earlier today. I don't know if you've ever heard of Pearl Lam here
    in your community, but she has done a magnificent job of heralding the
    cultural life of Minnesota. She is a remarkable volunteer. Where are
    you, Pearl Lam? She's somewhere here. She must not have gotten a very
    good seat. [Laughter] Oh, there you are, Pearl Lam. Please stand up,
    will you? Thank you for coming.
        She's worked tirelessly to promote and
    improve cultural awareness in the community. She did so without any
    Government agency telling her what to do. She did so because she wanted
    to serve. She did so because she had a talent she wanted to share. You
    see, the great strength of the country is the fact that we've got a
    nation full of people who really, honestly, decently care about the
    communities in which they live and want to do something about it. And
    so, Pearl Lam, I want to thank you, on behalf of the thousands and
    millions of others in our country, for volunteering.
        I called up my friend Mark Yudof and
    invited myself here because Minnesota is one of the leading centers of
    health care innovation in our country. And that's saying a lot. People
    come from all around the world to come to the University of Minnesota's
    cancer center. I don't know if you know that or not, but it's one of the
    most famous cancer centers. We thought we were pretty good in Texas--
    [laughter]--but you're really good here. This university performed the
    first successful bone marrow transplant and is one of the world's
    leaders in curing childhood leukemia and other cancers. There's a lot of
    incredible work going on right here in your neighborhood.
        Patients from all over the globe have had their lives saved by heart
    devices and other medical products invented by the hundreds of medical
    companies that have their homes in what you call Medical Alley in the
    Minneapolis area, and I know we've got some of the entrepreneurs, the
    medical entrepreneurs here with us today. And I want to thank you for
    your work, and I want to thank you for employing people.
        People from every corner of the world come to a clinic in southern
    Minnesota called Mayo Clinic. I know something about that, because my
    mother's on the board. [Laughter] Whew, those
    must be amazing board meetings. [Laughter] Sorry, Mom. [Laughter] But
    the Mayo Clinic's countless breakthroughs include effective drug
    treatment for tuberculosis and other diseases, and the clinic now has
    branches all across the country to make sure our seniors get the best
    possible health care.
        I just met with a Mayo Clinic cardiologist named Doug Wood. I want to share a story he told me. I think it helps
    make my point about the need for us to stay on the cutting edge of drug
    therapy.
        When he was a resident less than 25 years ago,
    the only real decision he had in treating a heart attack patient was how
    long to keep him or her in bed. That was the most important decision he
    had to make after the heart attack, how long will

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    bed rest last. He could do more than just offer comfort, and knowing
    Doug, he offered a lot of comfort.
        But today, thanks to progress in drug treatments, Dr. Wood uses a wide range of treatments to limit the damage from
    heart attack, to stop any further progress of the heart disease, and to
    prevent it from happening in the first place. In 25 short years, the
    ability for this healer to make a significant difference in the lives of
    those who have had heart diseases is amazing. It is a fantastic
    development in our society.
        And the future promises even more breakthroughs. That's the exciting
    thing about America. Thanks to the rapidly evolving field of genetic
    medicine, doctors may soon be able to prescribe individually suited
    drugs based on their patients' genetic makeup. If you think about that--
    you've got a particular problem and the drug will be designed to meet
    your need--it's medicine at its most basic level.
        But there's a problem, and I think we all recognize it now in our
    society, and we need to do something about it. And no matter how
    exciting the new drug therapies are, they're oftentimes very costly.
    Because Medicare--and what makes it even worse is that Medicare does not
    cover most prescription drugs. That's reality. Too many seniors, because
    that's the case--because they're too costly and Medicare doesn't cover
    them--too many of our seniors are forced to chose between paying for
    their pills or paying basic bills. And that's not right in America.
        And the reason why is because the Medicare system was designed for a
    different time. It's old. It is--it served a noble purpose, and it made
    a huge difference in a lot of people's lives. But it was designed at a
    time, for example, when surgery was common and the miraculous
    prescription drugs we have today were not only available--not available,
    but some people hadn't even thought about them yet.
        We need a Medicare system that is updated and modern, to serve the
    seniors of today with the medicine of today and to be able to serve the
    seniors of tomorrow, guys like me, with the medicines of tomorrow. We
    need a system which works.
        I support a prescription drug benefit in Medicare that allows
    seniors to choose the drug coverage that is best for them--that is best
    for them. I also support allowing and encouraging seniors to band
    together to use purchasing power to--purchasing clout to be able to get
    lower drug--prices on their drugs.
        Now, what you need to know is that a full Medicare drug benefit will
    take some years to phase in. And that's why I think we need to have a
    Medicare-endorsed prescription drug card immediately for our seniors.
    The card will allow seniors to gain access to manufacturer discounts on
    the drugs they use as well as gain access to other valuable
    pharmaceutical services immediately. I talked about this last year.
    Court moved in there, and we're trying to get the court out of it. This
    is important for seniors.
        I also support proposals like the one the House just passed, that
    will provide Federal funds for immediate prescription drug assistance
    for seniors.
        Now, the key is to make sure that we expand seniors' access to
    programs that help them work with their doctors to use the best
    treatments too. And that includes better access to innovative disease
    management programs, like a program you have right here in Minnesota
    called Evercare.
        You should have heard the testimony I heard, one from a loyal
    daughter whose mom is now in the Evercare program and another from a
    customer of Evercare, about the need to use Medicare Plus Choice to fund
    innovative programs that allow for seniors to feel like they're not a
    part of some giant bureaucracy but in fact treated on a basis that you'd
    want to be treated on. And that's what Evercare does. And those are the
    kinds of innovations we need throughout our system, by giving seniors
    more choice in the system.

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        While we strengthen Medicare, we must also encourage innovation by
    preserving our private health care system, the private health care
    system which is the envy of the world.
        In the report issued today that Tommy
    talked about, the Department of Health and Human Services says this: In
    countries which rely on Government controls to keep health care costs
    down--presumably to keep health care costs down--the patient suffers.
    And that's important for you all to understand and to know. And it's
    important for those who advocate Government control of all the health
    care in America to understand as well: The patient suffers.
        If you want a health care system where the patient doesn't suffer
    but, in fact, benefits, we must be innovative and encourage a healthy
    private sector.
        When Government determines which drugs are covered by health
    insurance, when Government makes those decisions, the invariable results
    are this: There will be delays and inflexible limits on coverage of new
    treatments. Costs might go down for seniors who are lucky enough to need
    the drugs that are on the Government's list. But as in the Canadian
    provinces and in many other countries, seniors who need drugs that are
    not on the Government's list would have no alternative to get the
    coverage they prefer. All seniors have to wait for the Government to
    decide what is covered, and that doesn't seem fair to me. And with
    prescription drugs, those delays can be life threatening.
        And the heavy hand of Government in other countries often does this:
    It discourages the costly and time-consuming investments in research
    necessary to discover new drugs. I want you to understand these facts.
    Eight of the ten--top ten best selling drugs in the world were developed
    by American companies, while we can expect that 34 out of the 55
    breakthrough drugs entering the market this year will come from American
    companies. It is our companies and our researchers which are leading the
    world in finding the therapies necessary to save lives, and we've got to
    remember that. And therefore, we need to steer clear of direct
    Government controls that stifle innovation and limit a patient's choice.
        What's interesting is that more than half of our seniors have
    private drug coverage now because of their previous employment. And
    Government should act to strengthen these private health insurance
    options, not replace them. By relying on competition and patients'
    choice and innovative programs like Evercare, we will protect our
    seniors now and offer many new lifesaving services to seniors in the
    future and preserve our private health care system.
        When the founders of the Mayo Clinic started their practice over a
    century ago, they chose a clear principle to guide their work: The best
    interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered. That's
    the principle. Minnesota's immense and continuing contributions to
    biotechnology demonstrates that this is the right principle for our
    health care system.
        As Members of Congress act to provide a drug benefit in Medicare, I
    urge them to honor the principle I just outlined by putting patient
    control and patient choice ahead of Government control. If we do so, we
    can guarantee the continued vitality and productivity of America's
    private health care system, while providing the modern drug coverage
    that seniors so desperately need.
        And that's part of making sure we have a secure America. Health
    security is part of being a secure America. The other thing we need to
    do to make sure we secure--a lot of things we need to do to make sure we
    secure America--one is to make sure we continue to grow our economy. Job
    security is important for a secure America.
        But I want to just tell you real quickly about how I'm thinking
    about the war on terror, while I've got you stuck here. [Laughter] The
    war goes on. We face an enemy who is--they like to hide, and they'll

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    go to the big cities in some of these countries and think they're
    invisible. And sometimes we don't hear from them for awhile. But you
    need to know, they're still plotting and planning. These are the ones
    that go into caves and send their youngsters to their death. They
    themselves hide, and get somebody else to carry on their mission,
    sometimes suicide missions.
        They're out there still. They still hate America because we love
    freedom. They hate us because we value the fact that people should
    worship freely. The more free we are, the more desperate they become.
    They like to find countries that are soft, kind of burrow in, and try to
    plan. And you just need to know we're doing everything we can to disrupt
    them. The doctrine still holds: Either you're with the United States of
    America and freedom-loving countries, or you're with the terrorists.
        We have over 60,000 troops overseas, 8,000 still in Afghanistan. As
    you know, Afghanistan is still a dangerous place. And we're going to
    stay there until a stable government emerges, until we complete our
    mission. We're--anytime we get a hint in a place like Afghanistan, we're
    moving, and we're moving with some of the finest Americans ever
    produced, those who wear our uniform.
        This is a different kind of war. In the past, you'd see tank
    movements or airplane formations. This is like hunting down a bunch of
    coldblooded killers; that's what it's like. And that's all they are, by
    the way. And we're after them one at a time, one person at a time.
    We've--when I talked about the need for us to establish a Department of
    Homeland Security, I announced--part of my announcement was that I told
    the people that we had hauled in--``we'' being our friends as well as
    ourselves--hauled in over 2,400 of these terrorists. That's in less than
    a year's time. So we're making progress, one person at a time.
        Our goal is to get them on the run and keep them on the run, so they
    have no place to light or no place to hide. And it's going to take
    awhile. The American people understand that; that's positive. That's
    good news for us and bad news for the enemy. The American people
    understand that we've got a new challenge. Because we understand, when
    somebody attacks our values, the values we hold dear, it doesn't matter
    how long it takes, we'll defend them.
        I've submitted a bill, an appropriations request to the Congress,
    which is a significant increase in our defense spending. And I did it
    for two reasons. One is, I firmly believe that anytime we commit our
    young into harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best training, the
    best equipment possible.
        And two, it's a signal to the enemy and to our friends and allies
    that we're in this for the long run. There is no time certain as to when
    we quit. There is not a calendar that says, ``By such-and-such a moment,
    you've got to stop, Mr. President.'' For however long it takes, we
    defend our freedoms. History has called America into action, and
    America--America will act, because we're a nation that stands for
    tremendous values. We love freedom. We love freedom. And anybody that
    tries to take it away--[applause].
        I also want you to know this, that out of the evil done to America
    is going to come some good. I firmly believe that. I believe it. I want
    the youngsters here to understand, when you hear your President talk
    about getting them and rounding them up, that I yearn for peace. And I
    believe--I believe we can achieve peace. I believe that when this
    country remains strong and steadfast and resolved, we can achieve peace,
    peace not only for our own people but peace in parts of the world where
    people have never dreamt of peace in a while.
        That's the legacy this generation will leave behind: By being tough
    and doing what it takes to win the war on terror, we'll leave peace for
    our children and our grandchildren. I'll tell you what else is

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    going to happen here, as a result of the evil done to America, there's
    going to be some incredible good here at home too. I believe people have
    taken a step back and asked, ``What's important in life?'' You know, the
    bottom line and this corporate America stuff, is that important? Or is
    serving your neighbor, loving your neighbor like you'd like to be loved
    yourself?
        I gave a speech at Ohio State University, at their graduation, and I
    was pleased to see that 70 percent of the seniors in the class had
    served their community one way or the other. They understand that a life
    in America is most complete when you help a neighbor in need, when you
    volunteer your time, that in America, being a patriot is more than just
    putting your hand over your heart and saying, ``One nation under God.''
    It is a--serving a neighbor--[applause]--it also means loving a
    neighbor. It means mentoring a child.
        You see, in spite of our richness, there are pockets of despair and
    hopelessness and loneliness and addiction that we must address. The
    enemy hit us, and I believe they finally--they helped wake up a spirit
    of personal responsibility, a spirit that says, being an American means
    you've got to help a neighbor in need as well as saluting your flag.
        And it's happening in this country. It's happening. And I believe
    that out of the evil done to America is going to come a society in which
    the great American experience and the great American hopes extends into
    all neighborhoods, where people realize that they're fortunate to live
    in the greatest land--I mean the greatest--on the face of the Earth. And
    it's my honor to be your President.
        I want to thank you all. I want to thank you all for giving me a
    chance to come by and talk about an issue that's important for today and
    tomorrow, and that is quality health care for our seniors. And thank you
    for giving me a chance to be the President of the greatest nation on the
    face of the Earth.
        God bless, and God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:50 p.m. in the Nicollet Grand Ballroom at
    the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. In his remarks, he referred to Mark G.
    Yudof, president, University of Minnesota.