Statement in Connection With the Dedication of the Eisenhower Memorial Hospital.

IN THE COURSE of future history, it will become increasingly difficult to separate the legacy of Dwight Eisenhower from his legend. The dividing line will be marked, for the most part, by such concrete examples of what he sought for America and what he inspired men to create for America as the Eisenhower Medical Center rising on the sands at Palm Desert, California.

The first part of this great Center, the Eisenhower Hospital, now stands completed. It is the cornerstone of a facility where research and training will go on in the constant effort to insure that the health of our people reflects the wealth of our Nation.

This is the purpose of this Center as it is the larger purpose of the health program proposed by this Administration.

This program is based on the belief that our Government and our people, business and labor, the health insurance industry, and the health profession can work together in a national partnership to achieve our health objectives.

Last February, I proposed to the Congress a comprehensive health program designed to continue and expand the recently developed Government role of financing care for the helpless and needy, while leaving largely to the private sector the task and responsibility of providing such care.

We proposed the National Health Insurance Partnership which would provide financing of health care for all American families.

We have proposed improvements in the Medicare program, which would offer significant advantages to the aged who would no longer have to pay premiums out of their reduced incomes after retirement.

Last August, I announced an eight-point program designed to improve the quality of life for the elderly who must rely on the care provided in the nursing homes of our country. Both Houses of Congress have held hearings on my appropriation request for this program and we are making rapid strides in its implementation.

Last week, I signed into law the comprehensive health manpower training act of 1971 and the Nurse Training Act of 1971. These acts follow substantially the recommendations I made to the Congress last February--and they constitute the most comprehensive health manpower legislation to train doctors, dentists, nurses, and others in the Nation's history.

But legislation is only a first step. These new programs must now be adequately funded and effectively carried out. We have asked the Congress for a new supplemental appropriation for health manpower programs which would bring overall spending for training health workers in the current fiscal year to $530 million, a level which is $100 million higher than in fiscal year 1971.

In a major new initiative to combat the scourge of cancer, I requested, and the Congress has appropriated, an additional $100 million for cancer research. Along with this we have proposed a new organizational arrangement that will vastly improve the effectiveness of the cancer abatement effort.

Last week, I asked all Americans to join with me in a commitment to two national goals:

--to reduce by half the occurrence of mental retardation in the United States before the end of this century, and

--to enable one-third of the more than 200,000 retarded persons in public institutions to return to useful lives in the community.

These two goals are realistic and achievable. We already have most of the knowledge and many of the techniques they will require, and the rest are within reach of research.

We have also made proposals to increase funding for family planning activities by over $60 million; to further research and development studies into the treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention of alcoholism and drug abuse; and to increase the effectiveness of occupational health and safety programs.

We have a very strong system of providing medical service in America, but it can be stronger, and it has to be.

The proposals we have submitted speak to the weaknesses of the present system. They assure that no American can be denied health care because of financial need, and that the promise of good health care and the expectation that the system can provide good health care will be met.

The Eisenhower Medical Center will be a vital part of this Nation's effort to conquer illnesses that prevent men and women from living full lives.

It is one appropriate memorial to the memory of a man whose first value was life itself and the preservation of life, and it is a fitting reflection of this Nation's ongoing commitment to the well-being of our people.