THE WHITE HOUSE



                       Office of the Press Secretary


                          (Aboard Air Force One)



_______________________________________________________________________


For Immediate Release                                   August 11,2000




                        STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT



     Every day, tens of thousands of health claims are submitted to


insurers and other payers by our nation's health care providers.  These


billing forms are often incomprehensible, inconsistent, and duplicative,


frequently serving little useful purpose.  They waste the time and


financial resources of our talented health care professionals, and can


result in higher premiums and lower quality of care.



     With today's release of new national standards for electronic claims


for health care transactions, we are taking a major step towards


eliminating burdensome, time-consuming and wasteful paperwork that costs


the nation's health care system billions of dollars each year.  In fact,


the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that these


administrative simplification regulations will achieve a net savings to the


health care system of nearly $30 billion over the next 10 years.



     As we use our new technology to streamline our health care system, we


will maintain our absolute commitment to protect the sanctity and privacy


of medical records.  The standards we are releasing today will be required


to be implemented consistent with the privacy regulation that we will be


finalizing later this year.



     Today's action is a win for patients and health care providers alike.


When we save money from the health care system, we succeed in keeping


premiums down.  When we reduce paperwork requirements on our physicians,


they have more time to spend with their patients.  Improving quality,


eliminating wasteful spending, and maintaining our values should be the


goals we strive to achieve in health care and every public policy we


pursue.  I believe that we are achieving all three goals with the release


of today's new standard.



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