[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 28 (Monday, July 16, 2001)]
[Pages 1026-1027]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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--Madame 
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

[[Page 1027]]

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 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 who'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.