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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | ||||
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| REMARKS BY: | TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES |
| PLACE: | The National Capital Forum, Berlin, Germany |
| DATE: | May 16, 2002 |
I'm so very pleased to be at the National Capital Forum and to spend some time in this marvelous city of Berlin. It is striking for me, as an American of German descent, to come to the capital of a united Germany. For so many years, my countrymen and I hoped and worked and prayed for the triumph of freedom in this historic nation, and to see it in our lifetime is a wonderful thing.
Let me begin by thanking each of you for your solidarity with the United States in the aftermath of the terrorist assault on my nation on September 11th.
200,000 Berliners - including, I'm sure, many of you here - joined together in a public outpouring of mourning and prayer on September 14th, my country's national day of prayer. We will never forget it, and on behalf of the President of the United States and all of my countrymen, I thank you very sincerely.
Our countries share many things - a commitment to representative democracy … a deep love of liberty … a common dedication to justice for all our citizens. We also share a desire for, and commitment to, the health of all our citizens. We want our people to live healthy and live long.
We're all sort of like the great Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer. Once, when consulting his physician, Chancellor Adenauer asked about how he could better stay healthy.
"I'm not a magician," said his doctor. "I can't make you young again."
Chancellor Adenauer responded, "I haven't asked you to. All I want is to go on getting older."
Today I want to talk with you a bit about what the Bush Administration is doing to help all Americans "keep getting older," and to remain or become healthy as they do so.
There's so much I could discuss, but let me emphasize four areas of particular relevance: Preparing for bioterrorism … modernizing America's Medicare system … the continued reform of America's welfare system ... and our new preventive health care initiative.
First, as to bioterrorism, our adversaries have been put on notice: We will protect our people. We will stand for freedom and justice and the security of our nation. Yet, even in the pain and even amidst the evil of what the terrorists have done, some good has come. There is a wonderful new spirit in America.
We in the Bush Administration are doing everything we can to prepare for what might happen should our adversaries strike again. Earlier this year, we released $1.1 billion to the states to help them strengthen their capacity to respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies resulting from terrorism.
To prepare further, President Bush and I are requesting an additional $4.3 billion - an increase of 45 percent over the current fiscal year -- to support a wide variety of critical activities to prevent, identify and respond to incidents of bioterrorism.
We are using these funds to add more than 600 new food inspectors to better ensure the safety of our food supply. We are providing new research funding for our Centers for Disease Control as they develop improved treatments for diseases like smallpox and anthrax.
The National Institutes of Health is working to develop effective vaccines for life-threatening diseases ... We're enlarging our national pharmaceutical stockpile … and we're upgrading our public health system at the local, state and national levels, providing training and equipment for the men and women who will have to confront a disease outbreak in regional areas.
In sum, we are making the largest one-time investments in America's public health system, ever. President Bush and I are committed to ensuring that doctors, hospitals, communities and states are as prepared as possible to meet any emergency that should arise.
President Bush is also committed to modernizing the American Medicare program, which is our national program for providing health care to older people.
I understand that the German health care system does not have a separate health care insurance program for the elderly. Instead, in the German system, the elderly are covered through competing sickness funds like everyone else. Most decisions on the actual contents of the benefit packages and the delivery of health services are made between associations of physicians and the sickness funds, both at regional and national levels.
In the U.S., however, the elderly are covered by Medicare, a separate Federal program established in 1965, that is financed through a combination of payroll deductions, beneficiary premiums and general revenues. Under Medicare, law at the Federal level sets all payment methods and benefits.
Unlike the American Medicare benefit package that has had only minor changes since 1965, the German system is very comprehensive. In particular, in the U.S., prescription drugs for the elderly are generally only covered for hospitalized patients, while in Germany most licensed drugs are covered.
At the same time, since we face many of the same demographic challenges and cost issues, we can learn from each other's experiences.
For example, the U.S. has taken the lead in encouraging diverse forms of health care delivery. Both of our countries are interested in making use of evidence-based medicine in treatment decision-making.
We are both pursuing the expansion of private insurance for long-term care. And we are both interested in harnessing advances in medical research for the benefit of our citizens.
Still, the future of Medicare presents a great challenge to American policymakers. In coming decades, Medicare's solvency will weaken as the demands of a growing population of older Americans and the rising costs of health care combine to erode the Medicare system.
So, President Bush and I are committed to working now - this year - to begin the modernization and improvement of this vital health care system.
At the heart of this plan is a belief that we must provide better and more efficient delivery of services to our senior citizens.
To achieve that end, the President is committed to working with members of both of America's major political parties to find solutions around which we can revitalize the Medicare system.
President Bush has proposed a framework for bipartisan legislation. It includes a subsidized prescription drug benefit as part of modernized Medicare.
Everyone benefits from new drugs that are being developed through miracles of science, and the men and women receiving Medicare should and must have greater access to lifesaving therapies.
But it's also clear that if we add a drug benefit without comprehensive modernization of the system, we will only deepen the financial crisis Medicare faces in coming years. That's why the President's plan touches on every aspect of Medicare.
The President and I are working to modernize the entire Medicare system. We want Medicare to provide better coverage for preventive care and serious illnesses.
Medicare should provide greater insurance options … be more secure financially … and have fewer and less cumbersome regulations.
We are committed to going forward. America owes its senior citizens no less.
We also owe our citizens who hit rough times not a comfortable refuge where they can remain indefinitey but a springboard to a better life. That is why we are also committed to continuing to reform America's welfare system.
When I was governor of the great state of Wisconsin, we worked hard to provide new hope and opportunity for thousands of men and women caught in the web of dependence.
Our efforts paid off, and many of the things we did became part of America's national welfare reform initiative that was enacted in 1996.
Let me take this opportunity to thank my friend, Hessen Minister President Roland Koch, whose leadership is so widely respected. Hesse is the sister state of my great home state of Wisconsin. Roughly 50 percent of the people of Wisconsin have a German heritage, including me.
So, we are very fond of Germany and of Hesse in particular. Minister President Koch has taken a bold and innovative approach to reforming Hesse's welfare system, and is modeling some of his reforms on those we made to our welfare system in Wisconsin.
I wish him all the best in his courageous venture and can tell all of you that welfare reform that emphasizes work, compassion and dignity can truly transform lives.
Now, as for our efforts in the United States, the 1996 law dramatically shifted national welfare policy for the better.
It promoted work, encouraged personal responsibility, discouraged out-of-wedlock pregnancies and supported marriage.
As a result, nearly seven million fewer people are on welfare today than in 1996. 2.8 million fewer children are in poverty. Employment among single mothers has grown to unprecedented levels. Child poverty rates are at their lowest level since 1979.
Yet much remains to be done, and President Bush and I are committed to working with states, counties, cities, communities and families to complete the work we have begun.
Let me be clear that America's efforts in welfare reform have never been about simply reducing the number of people on the welfare rolls. We could do that just by cutting funding and telling people they are on their own. But we're much too compassionate to do that.
Instead, our commitment is much more significant - it is to provide a new avenue for opportunity and dignity for millions of Americans caught in a downward spiral of dependence and pain. And that is an avenue we are committed to pursuing.
Another such avenue takes us down the road to better health care through prevention. Too many Americans are afflicted with disease and illness for the simple reason that they don't take good care of themselves. So, we have launched a nationwide effort to encourage Americans to eat more wisely … exercise more consistently … and not to smoke.
If more of us would take better care of ourselves, illness would be reduced so very much. For example, the Medicare system, which I discussed earlier, spends an average of 26,000 U.S. dollars per recipient in the last year of the person's life. That works out to a quarter of the Medicare system's total annual spending.
Think of how that money could be better used if only we would take better care of themselves … and think of how many of us would live longer and better if we made a few simple decisions about exercise, diet and smoking.
Of course, good health affects all of us, at every stage of life. For example, about 17 million Americans now have diabetes. Another 16 million are in a pre-diabetic state. Yet research tells us that if you walk just 30 minutes a day, five days a week … and lost as little as ten pounds … you lower your chances of Type 2 diabetes by nearly 60 percent.
More than sixty percent of Americans are overweight or obese. Nineteen percent of all deaths that take place in the United States are smoking-related.
And the costs of these three ailments - an estimated $270 billion annually - is overshadowed by the approximately one million lives they claim in my country every year.
Some modest steps can largely prevent obesity diabetes and cancer. We are committed to turning the health care system in my country on its head by preventing illness at the front end instead of spending untold billions of dollars for treatment at the back end.
In other words, we want to start with preventive care in order to avoid clinical care. And, through public education in our schools, workplaces, media and speeches like this, that's what we intend to do.
There are so many other things we could discuss, but it's sufficient to say that the United States is committed to an agenda that is comprehensive and designed to improve the lives of all our citizens.
We're working to reduce unnecessary regulations in the overall health care system … to provide quality, affordable health care to those who lack health insurance … and to bring market-based reforms to many areas of the way we treat patients in our country.
We can't do everything all at once, but I take inspiration from one of my great heroes, the American President Theodore Roosevelt. "Pray not for lighter burdens," he said, "but for stronger backs."
If our backs were not strong, if we were not prepared to compassionately and effectively and energetically work on the problems facing us, we would not be here today.
On behalf of President Bush and on my own behalf, thank you for your wonderful work. May God bless you all.