[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 18 (Monday, May 8, 2000)]
[Pages 945-946]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

April 29, 2000

    Good morning. Next week, when the full Congress returns from Easter 
recess, they'll have less than 75 working days left to make this year a 
year of real progress for the American people. There is no more 
important critical piece of unfinished business than our

[[Page 946]]

need to ensure that every American, young and old, has adequate, 
affordable health care.
    Today I want to again urge the Congress to step up to this challenge 
by making the passage of a strong Patients' Bill of Rights and the 
provision of a voluntary Medicare prescription drug benefit top 
priorities when they return to Washington.
    This critical legislation is long overdue. The more than 190 million 
Americans who use managed care or other insurance plans have waited too 
long for a strong, enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights. They deserve 
the right to see a specialist, to emergency room care, wherever and 
whenever they need it, and the right to hold health care plans 
accountable for harmful decisions.
    Last year, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, the House passed a 
strong Patients' Bill of Rights that provides the right protections all 
Americans need and deserve. It's a bill I would sign. But more than 6 
months later the bill is still languishing in Congress. Despite their 
pledge to complete a real bill, the Republican majority has not only 
delayed action, it's actually considering legislation that would leave 
tens of millions of Americans without Federal protections.
    A right that can't be enforced isn't a right at all, it's just a 
request. We need a strong bill that protects all Americans and all 
plans, not one that provides more cover for the special interests than 
real coverage for American patients.
    Congress also has an obligation to strengthen Medicare and modernize 
it, with a voluntary, affordable prescription drug benefit. No one 
creating a Medicare program today would even think of excluding coverage 
for prescription drugs. Yet more than three in five older Americans 
still lack affordable and dependable prescription drug coverage.
    Just this week we saw further evidence of the unacceptable burden 
the growing cost of prescription drugs places on senior Americans. 
According to a report by the nonprofit group, Families USA, the price of 
prescription drugs most often used by seniors has risen at double the 
rate of inflation for 6 years running, a burden that falls hardest on 
seniors who lack drug coverage because they simply don't receive the 
price discounts most insurers negotiate.
    Seniors and people with disabilities living on fixed incomes simply 
cannot continue to cope with these kinds of price increases. That's why 
we must take action to help them, not next year or the year after that 
but this year. My budget includes a comprehensive plan to modernize 
Medicare and provide for a long overdue prescription drug benefit for 
all beneficiaries.
    I'm pleased there's growing bipartisan support for tackling this 
challenge. Earlier this month Republican leaders in the House put forth 
an outline of a plan that offers as a stated goal access to affordable 
coverage for all older Americans. Unfortunately, their plan falls short 
of meeting the goal. It would do virtually nothing for seniors with 
modest middle class incomes between $15,000 and $50,000 a year. Nearly 
half of all Medicare beneficiaries who lack prescription drug coverage 
fall into that category.
    It's not too late to give all our seniors real prescription drug 
coverage this year. We can work together on a plan that's affordable, 
dependable, and available to all older Americans.
    So I say to Congress, when you come back to Washington next week, 
let's get back to work on a strong, enforceable Patients' Bill of 
Rights; let's get back to work on voluntary Medicare prescription drug 
benefits. The health care of Americans is too important to be 
sidetracked by partisan politics. The need is urgent, and the time to 
act is now.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 5:58 p.m. on April 28 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 29. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
April 28 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.