Remarks to Langham company employees in Indianapolis, Indiana

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 15, 2003

But as I mentioned to you, we've got more work to do, and I want to talk about some things that can be done. There are still people looking for work. The economy is growing. Homebuilding is strong. People are getting more confident. The purchases of factory orders for heavy machinery is good, and it's up. But people are still looking for work.

One of the reasons why is that when you're coming out of slow limes, job creation is the last thing to arrive on the scene. A lot of employers are saying, "Well, I want to make sure the economy is as good as it sounds like before I put on a new worker."

Another reason why is bemuse our workers are so productive. Productivity--we've got the highest productivity, the most productive workers, in the world. And when productivity goes up, it means that a worker can have more output per hour. And therefore, in order for job creation to grow, the economy must grow faster than productivity gains. In other words, if a worker can do more per hour, in order for a new worker to be hired, the demand must be increased by as much, if not greater than, productivity increases.

And so, we've got a short-term problem. long term, it's good that we're more productive. It means higher wages for the American worker. It means we're more competitive overseas. Short term, this economy needs to crank up faster than productivity increases in order for somebody to find a job.

And so, that's what I want to talk to you about, how best to encourage continued growth, how to make sure this economy continues to grow. Well, first of all, we need to deal with our health care issue. We want to make sure health care is available and health care is affordable. One way to make sure health care is affordable for small businesses like the Langhams is to allow for the creation of what we call association health plans, which will allow small businesses to come together to pool risk and to have bargaining power just like big businesses can.

Another way we can work on health care costs and to make sure health care is available for our citizens is to deal with this issue of medical liability. There's too many frivolous lawsuits which are driving up the cost of medicine. If you're a doctor and you're afraid you're going to get sued, you practice unnecessary medicine in order to cover yourself in a court of law. That drives up your cost of medicine. It drives up the Langhams' cost for health care. Preventative medicine, because of litigation, is running up your bill.

Now, I believe if you've been harmed by a doc, you ought to have your day in court, and you ought to recover full economic damages. And I think that's only fair in America. I do think there ought to be a cap at 250,000 on noneconomic damages. And I think there ought to be reasonable punitive damages. There ought to be reasonable punitive damages.

And because high cost of health care run up the cost of the Federal budget--you see, when health care goes up, Medicaid budgets go up, and Medicare budgets go up, and the Veterans Health Administration budgets go up. Because it affects our budget, I believe medical liability reform is a national issue which requires a national solution. The House of Representatives act. The Senate must pass good medical liability reform on behalf of economic vitality and on behalf of the workers all across the country.