[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 5 (Monday, February 2, 2004)]
[Pages 140-141]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

January 24, 2004

    Good morning. In my State of the Union Address, I spoke of a great 
priority for our Nation, to confront the rising cost of health care and 
make sure that more of our citizens can afford the health care they 
need. Health care costs are rising too fast for many families and 
businesses. It is time to address this problem directly, with five clear 
steps that Congress can take this year.
    First, we can help control rising health care costs by cutting down 
on frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals. When health care 
providers are responsible for injuries, they should be accountable. Yet 
no one was ever healed by a junk or frivolous lawsuit.
    This week, I will travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, to visit Baptist 
Health Medical Center. For Baptist and other hospitals across the 
Nation, frivolous lawsuits have dramatically increased the cost of 
medical liability premiums. These costs are passed on to patients in 
higher bills. These costs are driving doctors from important work, such 
as delivering babies. And these costs are driving some doctors out of 
medicine entirely.
    In order to protect the doctor-patient relationship, Congress should 
pass medical liability reform that removes the threat of frivolous 
lawsuits and the needless costs they impose on our health care system.
    Second, we should help more small businesses afford health insurance 
for their workers by allowing these firms to band together and negotiate 
for lower insurance rates. These association health plans give small 
employers the same bargaining power as big companies, making it easier 
for them to provide employee health coverage. The House has passed a 
bill supporting these health plans, and the Senate needs to act.
    Third, Congress should give lower income Americans refundable tax 
credits to help them purchase health insurance. These tax credits would 
total up to $1,000 for individuals and $3,000 for families. For many 
Americans lacking health insurance, these credits would make the 
difference between affording insurance and going without.
    Fourth, we should help Americans with their health care costs by 
encouraging the use of health savings accounts. Congress passed these 
accounts last year in the Medicare bill, allowing people to save money 
for future medical expenses tax-free. People who make use of health 
savings accounts also will buy high-deductible insurance policies to 
protect them against catastrophic medical costs like hospitalization or 
major surgery. This year, I am urging Congress to make those premiums 
100-percent tax deductible. This new deduction would strengthen health 
savings accounts and make health insurance more affordable for millions 
of Americans not covered through their workplace.
    And fifth, we can control health care costs and improve care by 
moving American medicine into the information age. My budget for the 
coming year proposes doubling to $100 million the money we spend on 
projects that use promising health information technology. This would 
encourage the replacement of handwritten charts and scattered medical 
files with a unified system of computerized records. By taking this 
action, we would improve care and help prevent dangerous medical errors, 
saving both lives and money.
    In all these measures, we are upholding the basic principle that 
private health care and the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship 
make America's health care the best in the world. And with the help of 
Congress, this year we will strengthen our private system of care by 
addressing the rising cost of health care and helping more Americans 
afford health coverage.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 9:20 a.m. on January 23 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 24. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 23 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
this address.

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