    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [October 26, 2002]
    [Pages 1901-1902]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1901]]

    The President's Radio Address
    October 26, 2002

        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.

    Note: The address was recorded at 3:35 p.m. on October 25 at the Bush
    Ranch in

    [[Page 1902]]

    Crawford, TX, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on October 26. The transcript
    was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on October 25
    but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of the
    Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this
    address. S. 1533, the Health Care Safety Net Amendments of 2002,
    approved October 26, was assigned Public Law 107-251.