[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 28 (Monday, July 16, 2001)]
[Pages 1033-1035]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland

July 13, 2001

    Thank you very much. Dr. Miller, it's my honor to be here in the 
number one hospital in the United States to talk about an incredibly 
important issue. And that's Medicare, and how to make sure it's relevant 
as we head into the 21st century.
    I want to thank you for giving me a chance to come. I'm honored to 
be traveling today with Tommy Thompson. I knew Tommy as a Governor. I 
knew he'd be a great Secretary of Health and Human Services, and he's 
proved me right. I appreciate you being here, Tommy.
    I want to thank Dr. Brody. I want to thank Mr. Peterson. I want to 
thank Congressman Cummings and Congressman Ehrlich for being here, as 
well. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for coming. I appreciate the 
baseball bat with Cal Ripken's signature on it. [Laughter]
    I am so proud of the health care system of America. We're the best 
in the world. We've got the best docs in the world. We've got the best 
research in the world. We've got the best hospitals in the world. And I 
intend to keep it that way. It's really important that our health care 
be responsive and innovative and rewarding.
    And there are some bills coming up in front of Congress now that 
will help determine the course of medicine. One is called the Patients' 
Bill of Rights. It's really important that we not have our system 
ladened down by unnecessary lawsuits, that when we pass legislation, we 
keep patients in mind and make sure patients have direct access to 
specialists and make sure patients have the capacity to take their 
complaints to an independent review organization so that the complaint 
can be remedied quickly, not held up in a court of law.
    I think we'll get a pretty good piece of legislation out. I 
certainly hope so, because it's part of a reform process, all aimed at 
making our health care system focus on patients and their relationship 
with doctors.
    The big issue also confronting us is Medicare. The other day in the 
Rose Garden I laid out a Medicare set of guidelines, and I'm going to 
reiterate those here today. But I started off my talk by reminding 
people that another Texas President, Lyndon Johnson, started Medicare. 
And he presented former President Harry Truman with the first Medicare 
card, as he outlined the dream of Medicare.
    And the truth of the matter is, Medicare has met the goals of 
America. Seniors are better off as a result of Medicare. But the problem 
with Medicare is, medicine changes, and Medicare has not. Medicine in 
the United States is changing dramatically, and I witnessed firsthand 
some of the fascinating technologies taking place in your eye clinic 
here and incredibly important changes when it comes to kidney 
transplants.
    And yet, oftentimes, as innovation occurs in the health care area, 
Medicare is stuck in the past. It won't change, because it's too 
bureaucratic. The other day I said, you know, 1965 is when the program 
started, and even

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though a lot of people think the 1965 Mustang was the best car ever 
made, it wasn't very modern. And even though Medicare may be the best 
invention of man, it's not very modern today.
    And so, in the Rose Garden and here again at Johns Hopkins, I call 
upon the Congress to work with the administration to modernize Medicare, 
to make sure the Medicare system reflects the great hopes and promises 
of the health care in the 21st century. And what does that mean?
    Well, it means, first and foremost, that anybody who likes Medicare 
today can stay on Medicare; that if you're happy with the Medicare 
system, getting up in your years, you're not interested in change, that 
you should be allowed to stay in the system as it is. In other words, no 
change, no threats, no problems.
    However, Medicare also ought to do what it does for Federal 
employees. The Federal Congress ought to say, ``If it's okay for Federal 
employees to have a variety of choices from which to choose, so should 
America's seniors. If it's okay for people who work for the Federal 
Government to be able to pick and choose a plan that meets his or her 
needs, seniors ought to be able to do that, as well.''
    So we need to bring new opportunities and options into Medicare for 
America's seniors, all of which must include prescription drug benefits; 
all of which must understand that part of the innovation that has taken 
place in the medical arena has included brand-new prescription drugs and 
new opportunities for people to have prescription drugs, and 
prescription drugs needs to be an integral part of Medicare, not only 
the system that exists today but whatever options seniors choose to use 
in the future.
    Thirdly, any good Medicare system will create competition for 
service and will reduce premiums.
    Fourthly, any good Medicare system must have stop-loss insurance 
provided for patients. I mean, we have a system today in Medicare where 
there's no telling how much people pay, depending upon the complications 
on the procedure. And that's not right. We need stop-loss. We need to 
say to seniors, there is certainty when it comes to your Medicare bills. 
And that's not the case today in Medicare.
    And at the same time, we've got to recognize that we need to take 
care of low income seniors, as well. There are going to be some seniors 
that simply aren't going to be able to afford much. And our Government 
must be kind and generous in taking care of those seniors.
    And finally, this system needs to be on sound financial footing. 
Trying to figure out Medicare financing is pretty confusing for the 
layman. We've got one fund where everybody says, it's got a surplus. 
We've got a second fund that's in significant deficit. And that kind of 
accounting has got to stop. We need honesty in accounting when it comes 
to Medicare, by combining both Part A and Part B into a unified trust, 
so the American people know exactly what's happening in the Medicare 
system.
    Those are the guidelines I laid out. Pleased to report to you 
yesterday in the Rose Garden, there were some Democrat Members, there 
were some Republican Members, and there was even an independent Senator. 
[Laughter]
    This is an incredibly important issue. Now, I understand politics 
pretty well, and I'm afraid the American people do, too. They've seen 
what happens with the Medicare issue. That's why, in the political 
vernacular, they call it ``Mediscare,'' because somebody who comes along 
and tries to do what's right will have the issue used against them for 
political purposes.
    The truth of the matter is, I'm not afraid of the issue, because 
this is the right thing to do. We've got a lot of baby boomers, like me, 
fixing to retire. And we had better make sure we modernize the system, 
to make sure the system is whole and sound for tomorrow's seniors.
    But we also have an obligation for today's seniors. And the idea 
that many seniors can't access the latest technology--many seniors on 
Medicare don't have the same benefit that other seniors do in the 
private markets, got private insurance--just simply is not right.
    And so it's time for the United States Congress to set aside the 
kind of political bickering that tends to dominate our Nation's Capital, 
and to focus on what's right for the

[[Page 1035]]

people--is to seize this moment before it's to late; to come together, 
both parties coming together to modernize Medicare, to make it sound but 
also to make sure it's a compassionate system and one that works.
    Health care is an incredibly important part of our country. It's 
what sets America apart and makes our land so incredibly unique. And 
those of us who hold high office have the obligation to make sure the 
system works as best as it possibly can.
    I want to thank the docs for your hard work and your compassion. My 
hope is that with proper reforms, we'll continue to attract the best and 
brightest in our society to the medical profession, so that doctors 
actually get to perform their talent, as opposed to spend hours on 
paperwork, that you get to spend more time in your offices, as opposed 
to the court rooms, that you get to practice the medicine for which 
you've been trained.
    I want to thank the folks here at Hopkins for setting up a fine 
example for hospitals all across the land. And I want to thank my fellow 
citizens for giving me a chance to be the President of the greatest 
country on the face of the Earth.
    Thank you for letting me come by, and God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 2:45 p.m. in the Hurd Hall. In his remarks, 
he referred to William R. Brody, Ph.D., president, Johns Hopkins 
University; Edward D. Miller, Jr., M.D., chief executive office, Johns 
Hopkins Medicine; Ronald R. Peterson, president, Johns Hopkins Hospital; 
Mayor Martin O'Malley of Baltimore; and Cal Ripken, Jr., third baseman, 
Baltimore Orioles.