[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 4 (Monday, January 29, 2007)]
[Pages 55-56]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

January 20, 2007

    Good morning. For many Americans, the new year began with a 
resolution to live a better and healthier life. Whatever goals you have 
set for yourself this year, one goal we can all share is reforming our 
Nation's health care system.
    Americans are fortunate to have the best health care system in the 
world. The Government has an important role to play in our system. We 
have an obligation to provide care for the most vulnerable members of 
our society--the elderly, the disabled, and poor children and their 
parents. We are meeting this responsibility through Medicare, Medicaid, 
and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. We must strengthen 
these vital programs, so that they are around when future generations 
need them.
    For all other Americans, private health insurance is the best way to 
meet their needs. But rising health care costs are making insurance too 
expensive for millions of our citizens. Health care costs are growing 
more than two times faster than wages, and this is making it harder for 
working families to buy insurance on their own. Rising costs are also 
making it harder for small businesses to offer health coverage to their 
employees. Our challenge is clear: We must address these rising costs, 
so that more Americans can afford basic health insurance, and we need to 
do it without creating a new Federal entitlement program or raising 
taxes.
    Our Nation is making progress toward this goal. We created health 
savings accounts, which empower patients and can reduce the cost of 
coverage. We are working to pass association health plans, so that small 
businesses can insure their workers at the favorable discounts that big 
businesses get. We must pass medical liability reform, so we can stop 
the junk lawsuits that drive costs through the roof and good doctors out 
of practice. We've taken important steps to increase transparency in 
health care pricing and give patients more information about the quality 
of their doctors and hospitals.
    One of the most promising ways to make private health insurance more 
affordable is by reforming the Federal Tax Code. Today, the Tax Code 
unfairly penalizes people who do not get health insurance through their 
job. It unwisely encourages workers to choose overly expensive, gold-
plated plans. The result is that insurance premiums rise, and

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many Americans cannot afford the coverage they need.
    We need to fix these problems, and one way to do so is to treat 
health insurance more like homeownership. The current Tax Code 
encourages homeownership by allowing you to deduct the interest on your 
mortgage from your taxes. We can reform the Tax Code so that it provides 
a similar incentive for you to buy health insurance. So in my State of 
the Union Address next Tuesday, I will propose a tax reform designed to 
help make basic private health insurance more affordable--whether you 
get it through your job or on your own.
    As we reform the Federal Tax Code, we will also support the 
innovative measures that States are taking to address the problem of the 
uninsured. Governors across the Nation have put forward plans to make 
basic private health insurance more accessible for their citizens. When 
I go before Congress next week, I will announce a new effort, led by 
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, to help Governors 
reduce the number of people in their States without private health 
insurance.
    All of these changes are based on a clear principle: Health 
insurance should be available; it should be affordable; and it should 
put you and your doctor in charge of your medical decisions. I look 
forward to working with Congress to pass the initiatives that I lay out 
next week, so we can help millions more Americans enjoy better care, new 
choices, and healthier lives.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:35 a.m. on January 19 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 20. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 19 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
this address.