[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 24 (Monday, June 21, 1999)]
[Pages 1097-1098]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

June 12, 1999

    Good morning. Today I want to talk to you about what I believe we 
must do to ensure that more American families have the high quality 
health care they need to thrive. Our medical care is the best in the 
world, and we must make sure our health care system is, too. We all know 
this system is rapidly changing. Already, more than half of all

[[Page 1098]]

Americans are in managed care plans. On balance, I think managed care 
has been good for America, decreasing costs and increasing Americans' 
access to preventive care.
    But clearly, we must do more to make sure that when health care 
plans cut costs, they don't cut quality and that the bottom line never 
becomes more important than patients' needs. That's why more than a year 
and a half ago, I asked Congress to pass a strong, enforceable Patients' 
Bill of Rights that ensures critical protections for Americans in 
managed care, from the right to see a specialist to the right to 
emergency room care, whenever and wherever you need it, to the right to 
hold health plans accountable for harmful decisions.
    Using my authority as President, I've already acted to make these 
rights real for 85 million Americans who get their health care through 
Federal plans, from Medicare and Medicaid to the Veterans Administration 
health plan that serves millions of veterans and their families.
    But until Congress acts, tens of millions of Americans in managed 
care are still waiting for the full protection of a Patients' Bill of 
Rights. Democrats in Congress have long been pressing to pass a strong, 
enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights and nearly every doctors' 
association, every nurses' association, every patients' rights group in 
America agrees that we need it now.
    The Republican leadership in Congress has acknowledged that poor 
quality in managed care is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. 
I'm pleased that Senate Majority Leader Lott said he would bring managed 
care reform legislation to a vote on the Senate floor early this summer. 
Unfortunately, the Republican leadership's legislation falls far short 
of providing American families the protections they need in a changing 
health care system.
    Because it only applies to some health plans, it leaves tens of 
millions of Americans without these guarantees. It doesn't ensure 
patients access to specialists, like oncologists and cardiologists. It 
doesn't prevent health plans from forcing patients to change doctors in 
mid-treatment. It doesn't provide adequate recourse when a health plan 
provides less than adequate care. And it does not make clear, once and 
for all, accountants should not be able to arbitrarily overturn medical 
decisions.
    A Patients' Bill of Rights that doesn't provide these important 
protections is a Patients' Bill of Rights in name only, and our people 
deserve better. Protecting our families should be an issue that brings 
us together. I've been encouraged that many Republicans have said they 
would work with Democrats to pass strong, enforceable managed care 
reform.
    Today I ask the congressional leadership to move the right kind of 
managed care reform to the very top of their agenda. After all, we all 
get sick; we all need health care. No one asks us what our party 
affiliation is when we show up at the emergency room or the doctor's 
office. This isn't a partisan issue anywhere else in America; it 
shouldn't be in Washington, DC. Let's hold an open, fair debate and pass 
a real Patients' Bill of Rights that will strengthen our health care 
system, strengthen our families, and strengthen our Nation for the 21st 
century.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 4:57 p.m. on June 10 in the Roosevelt 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on June 12. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
June 11 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.