Remarks in Wheeling, West Virginia

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 6, 2004

There's more work to be done. I believe in intervention programs to make sure children have the skills necessary to learn. I know we've got to raise the standards in our high schools by working on math and science curricula. We want more Internet in our classrooms. We want a high school diploma to mean something. What I'm telling you is, after 4 more years, a rising generation will have the skills and confidence necessary to realize the American Dream.

We've got more work to do on health care. We're making good progress on health care. We've created community health centers all around the country, so low-income people can get primary care. It seems like a legitimate function of your Government is to help people with their health care needs, if they can't afford it. You might remember the old Medicare debate. That's a program, of course, that our seniors count on. Many seniors will tell you the program needed to be modernized and strengthened. See, you couldn't get prescription drugs through Medicare, not until old George W. came along.

We worked with Republicans and Democrats to say, "Let's keep our commitment to our seniors." Beginning in the year 2006, seniors are going to have choices in Medicare. Seniors will be able to design a program that meets their needs. Plus, Medicare will include prescription drugs.

We created health savings accounts for American families, so you can save tax-free for your own health care needs. I fully recognize most people get their health care through their businesses. Most small--most new jobs are created by small businesses. A lot of small businesses are having trouble affording health care these days. One way to address that problem is to allow small employers to join together to pool risk, so they can buy insurance at the same discount big businesses get to do.

We will continue to spend dollars on research, so we can help find cures for terrible diseases. We'll work to modernize the health care industry. But I'll tell you one thing we need to do to make sure you've got health care that's available and affordable: We need to stop these junk lawsuits that are threatening our does. This is an issue in this campaign. You see, I don't think you can be pro-plaintiff-attorney and pro-doctor and patient at the same time. See, I don't think you can be pro-small-business and pro-plaintiff-attorney at the same time. I think you have to make a choice. My opponent made his choice, and he put him on the ticket. I made my choice. I am for medical liability reform--now.

In all we do to improve health care, we will make sure the health care decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by bureaucrats in Washington, DC.

I'm running again because I want to continue the economic growth we're seeing now. We've been through a lot in this economy. We've been through a recession. We've been through corporate scandals, and we've been through those--a terror attack. And yet we've overcome these obstacles. We've overcome them because we've got great workers in America. We've overcome them because we've got great farmers in America. We've overcome them because the small-business sector is alive and well in America. We've overcome these obstacles because of two well-timed tax cuts.