Text 1113, 695 rader
Skriven 2005-06-17 23:33:24 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0506174) for Fri, 2005 Jun 17
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President Participates in Conversation on Medicare
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 17, 2005

President Participates in Conversation on Medicare
Maple Grove Community Center
Maple Grove, Minnesota



11:07 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for the warm day, too.
(Laughter.) It's good to be back in the great state of Minnesota. Thanks
for coming. I think you're going to find this to be an interesting
discussion we're about to have about Medicare. We're here to say to the
seniors who live here in Minnesota and around the country that Medicare has
been strengthened, reformed and modernized, and we hope you take a look at
it -- the new programs, because it's going to benefit a lot of people.

So what you're about to see is government in the process of educating folks
about what's available, and I want to thank my fellow panelists for being
here. I think you're going to be find this to be an interesting discussion.

Before I begin, I just want you to know that Laura sends her best.
(Applause.) She's doing great; working on some new comedy material.
(Laughter.) But I'm really proud of her, and she and I are having the times
of our life representing the United States of America, and I'm really lucky
to have her by my side.

I want to thank the Governor for being here. Governor, thanks for coming,
I'm proud you're here. Thanks for serving. (Applause.) We've got the
Secretary of State here. Mary, thanks for being here. Oh, there she is. Hi,
Mary. Thank you for coming. (Applause.) We've got the mayor, Mayor of Maple
Grove. I saw the mayor come in. Mayor, there he is. I appreciate you being
-- sitting by the old classmate. (Applause.) Thanks for having us. I want
to thank all the folks who serve in the statehouse and local government. I
appreciate you serving your state. I really want to tell you to thank your
families. It's not easy to be in public office, and it's not easy to be in
public office if you're a family member. But thanks for serving.

I really want to thank the folks here at Maple Grove for letting us come
by. It's not easy to host the President. (Laughter.) It turns out his
entourage is quite big these days. (Laughter.) But I really want to --
thank you for letting us do this. I think you're going to find this will
help the seniors who use this fantastic facility. It will help them at
least understand there's new options available to them when it comes to
making sure there's a prescription drug benefit available to them.

I want to thank Mark. I'm going to talk a little bit about Mark in a second
here, but I want to thank Rhonda Whitenack, who is the Social Security
Administration Training Instructor. I just was with Rhonda, and some folks
who have taken time out of their lives to learn what is available in this
new program. See, this is a part of a grass roots effort to educate people,
to explain to people what I'm about to explain to you. So, Rhonda, thank
you very much. I want to thank Greg Chesmore of the Centers of Medicare and
Medicaid Services Training Instructor. (Laughter.) His job is to instruct
people to educate people. That's his job. He works with Mark.

I want to thank Lisa Jost, who is the manager of this fantastic facility. I
want to thank -- thank you all for coming. I'm tired of thanking people.
(Applause.) I appreciate you being here.

By the way, I met John and Agnes Jurek. Where are they, the Jureks? I know
they were at the airport. I think they came here with us. There they are.
Thank you all for coming today. These are good folks who have volunteered
for years in the Minneapolis area. They volunteer at the veterans' center.
See, they're volunteering to make somebody's life better. And the reason
I've asked them to come, and the reason why at the airport I thanked them
for their volunteer work, is if you really want to serve our country or
your community, volunteer. Take time out of your life to help somebody,
teach a child to read, feed the hungry, find shelter for the homeless, and
you will do a huge service to our country.

See, the greatest strength about -- the greatest thing about America is the
fact that we've got people with such wonderful hearts, that they are
willing to take time out of their lives, just like John and Agnes. And so
John and Agnes, thanks for setting such a good example. We're proud you all
are here. (Applause.)

So Medicare worked for a lot of folks. But the problem is, medicine started
to change and Medicare wouldn't change with it quick enough. And I always
believed since the federal government had made a commitment to elders to
provide health care, that the health care we provide ought to be the best
possible health care. In other words, if you're going to provide something,
you ought to give it the best shot you can, and we weren't doing that when
it came to Medicare.

And I'll get you an example about one of the reasons why I became involved
in this issue and called upon Congress to modernize the Medicare system.
You know, the government would pay $28,000 for ulcer surgery -- I don't
know if I got the right number, but it's close to that -- but not one dime
for the prescription drugs that would prevent the ulcer surgery from being
needed in the first place. Or the government would pay $100,000 for heart
surgery, but not the $1,000 a year necessary to stop the heart surgery from
being needed in the first place, and that didn't seem to make sense to me.
That's an example of what I mean by the system was outdated and it wasn't
doing what it was supposed to do.

I believe those of us in public life have a responsibility to fix problems.
I saw a problem, and fortunately, members of both political parties came
together to fix this problem, to modernize Medicare.

Now, let me tell you what the Medicare -- the new Medicare bill means. The
first thing that happened in the Medicare bill is we -- for the first time
the federal government decided to provide help for preventive care. In
other words, it's a simple concept here. Let's give you a diagnosis early
when you sign up for Medicare so that if you've got a problem, we'll cure
it early before it becomes acute.

And so there is a Medicare preventive care provision now available for
seniors. And I urge seniors to take advantage of this part of the Medicare
program. In other words, get a checkup. When you sign up for Medicare, get
the free checkup that will make it easier for docs to solve your -- any
long-term health problems you have. In other words, the sooner you find out
what you got, the quicker it can be solved. And by the way, that saves
taxpayers money. When we can solve a problem early, it will save our
taxpayers money. And so that's why we put preventive -- preventive care as
a part of Medicare. It's called "Welcome to Medicare" physical. That's what
you -- that's what you're notified. When you sign up, you get "Welcome to
Medicare," and then you go take your physical, which the government pays
for.

I hope begin to understand why that makes sense. I think it made sense. And
I appreciate the Congress putting that part of the Medicare Modernization
Act.

Secondly, we provided discount cards for seniors. We said, look, if you're
somebody relying upon prescription drugs, here's a discount card. And a lot
of seniors saved a lot of money. But what's taken place as a result of this
law is we're replacing the discount card with a new prescription drug
benefit as a part of Medicare. And that's what I want people to understand
and that's what we're talking about.

This bill provides seniors with better choices. In other words, I like the
concept of saying to a senior, if you want to sign up for this benefit, you
can. If you don't want to, that's fine, too. It's voluntary. Secondly, if
you want to buy your -- buy your health care through something like
Medicare Advantage, we're strengthening Medicare Advantage plans for you.
In other words, the more choices people have, the better off it is in the
marketplace. That's what this bill does.

This bill also will help those of you who are receiving prescription drugs
from a labor union, or corporate America, by helping those entities fulfill
their responsibility to the contracts they made with you. In other words,
it recognizes people are going to get their medicines in a variety of
different ways. And so therefore, the bill strengthened options for people.
And that's good.

If you're -- on the average, the folks who sign up for this prescription
drug benefit are going to save $1,300 a year. For the first time, for the
first time in Medicare's history there will be stop-loss -- kind of
catastrophic care. If you're paying -- once you pay $3,600 in Medicare for
prescription drugs, the government picks up 95 percent of all the costs
over the $3,600. See, that's important, isn't it? We don't want a system
where if you're relying upon prescription drugs, and your drug costs get
out of control, it just wipes out a senior. So this is a plan that says for
folks, sign up, you get a good benefit. It will -- it's, on average, $1,300
worth of savings, plus a stop-loss plan, catastrophic care, so that if
something goes wrong, the government steps in after $3,600 and pays 95
percent of the costs. It will bring people peace of mind, by the way.

You know, one of the great complaints we heard about not covering
prescription drugs is that often times people could get wiped out because
of high drug bills. And this will give seniors ease of mind. That makes
sense in a good retirement system. Let me talk about -- and by the way,
what I haven't really referred to is what happens to low-income seniors.
And this is why we're beginning the dialogue early.

And the reason why we're beginning the dialogue early on a Medicare plan
that becomes available next November is because we want low-income seniors
to fill out some paperwork to justify their participation in the program as
a low-income senior. That's really what we're doing, that's why we're kind
of starting here in June, because the plan for low-income seniors is a
really good deal. I mean, it's a good deal for everybody, but it's a really
good deal for low-income seniors. After all, the government is going to pay
over 95 percent of all pharmaceutical costs for qualified seniors. That
makes sense, doesn't it? You don't want people choosing between medicine
and food. If the health care system has modernized, why not make the modern
health care system available for all people, all seniors?

And that's precisely what we're doing. This says, if you qualify, and
therefore you've got to fill out some paperwork to qualify -- generally
when people hear that the government is saying, fill out some paperwork to
qualify, it makes people nervous. I think you'll find that the forms that
the government has designed to decide whether you qualify or not are pretty
darn simple, particularly for government. I mean, there are four pages. And
therefore, it shouldn't frighten people to take a look at these forms.

But I understand a lot of people who have retired aren't really interested
in change at all. There's some people who feel that way. And therefore, one
of the reasons why I've come to this center is to encourage care givers and
sons and daughters and community and faith-based groups to help seniors
understand, one, what's available in the new program, and, two, to
encourage seniors to fill out the simple, four-page form so that they can
take advantage of this good deal.

And it's a good deal. This isn't political talk, this is true. And I
encourage people to take a look at this program. Just ask the folks that
have -- we're about to ask some folks, by the way, about why this makes
sense for people to sign up. I've come to Minnesota to begin an education
process, starting -- right now the forms are going out, by the way, to help
people qualify for this prescription drug benefit. Now, all people qualify
for it, but if you happen to be low-income, you get 95 percent or more of
the prescription drugs paid for the by the government. Starting October
1st, information about all the variety of plans will go out. People will
then be allowed to start signing up for the new Medicare plan, starting
November the 15th. January 1st, the benefit kicks in. And you have until
May 15th to sign up so you can get the good deal on the prescription drug
plans.

And it takes a while to get this to sink in. We've been having Medicare one
way for a long period of time, and change isn't easy. So you're watching --
what you're watching is you're watching the government begin to try to
change people's attitudes toward Medicare and to get them to take a look at
this new benefit.

Yesterday in Washington, I kicked the deal off with the Secretary of Health
and Human Services, and one of the things that I was pleased to see there
at the Johnson building was the number of faith-based groups that were
there, community-based groups. I just happened to be meeting some of the
members of the Salvation Army, by the way, one of the great armies of
compassion in the world. And so, as this advances, and if you're a part of
a faith-based or community-based program, and you're interested in serving
your community, find out how best you can explain what's going on to
seniors. It would be a significant contribution, I would think, to the
welfare of the society in which you live. This is a -- this is a good deal,
as to how to convince people to sign up for this good deal.

This country can do a lot of amazing things when people put their mind to
it, and this is a call, because by responding to the call, you're going to
help make somebody's life a lot better.

Now, Mark McClellan, he's -- you got to have a smart guy around you all the
time, and he happens to be one. He's a PhD -- yes, he's got a PhD and a
medical degree. Now, for those of you who are interested to know how
government works, I want you to pay attention to this. See, he's got the
PhD and the medical degree, and I'm the C student. (Laughter.) Notice who's
the advisor and who's the President. (Laughter.)

Anyway, McClellan is a good man. He's from -- raised in Texas, Austin,
Texas. He is in charge of making sure that the Medicare bill we passed is
fully implemented, and that people all across the country understand what's
available. Mark, why don't you add some wisdom here.

DR. McCLELLAN: Well, you've already added a lot of wisdom, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: He was wise to say that about the President. (Laughter.) Go
ahead, talk about the implementation plan and stuff, so people --

DR. McCLELLAN: One of the things that I'm spending a lot of time on is
going around the country for many of the meetings just like this that we're
having today to help people find out about the new coverage. And there are
two big phases in what we're doing, just as what the President was talking
about.

Right now we want to make sure people are aware of what's coming. There are
a lot of people who have Medicare, a lot of family members of people with
Medicare who don't realize that the Medicare coverage is starting on
January 1st, and that it's available for everybody, no matter how they pay
for their drugs today.

And we especially want to start early, as the President said, to reach
people with limited means. We are providing some very comprehensive drug
coverage for them. There's no premiums, no or little deductibles, and
people will pay only a few dollars for their prescriptions. And we want to
make sure they all take advantage of it.

This is a real partnership effort, and it's because of organizations like
the ones we're working with here, like the Social Security Administration,
like our staff at the Center for the Medicare and Medicaid Services all
around the country, and many of the nongovernmental groups that we're
working with that we think we can reach everyone so that they can make a
confident decision about the new coverage that's coming.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I told Mark -- I said, look, you're job is to make sure
everybody understands what's available. And if I can help, I will. And so
he's -- he's responsible. And his agency is responsible for getting the
word out. And we're beginning to -- this is it. This is day two. You're
right here in the beginning. I'm confident we're going to get significant
market penetration when it's all said and done. I think people, when it's
all said and done, are going to understand. But we need your help. In other
words, if we rely only on the federal government to get out the word, it's
not going to work. The federal government can help. We've sent out mailings
thus far to -- what have we done?

DR. McCLELLAN: Working with Social Security, we've sent out mailings to --
close to -- to millions of beneficiaries who are probably going to qualify
for this extra help for people with limited incomes. And we're sending out
a lot of information to people who are helping educate seniors and helping
educate the family members of seniors about the new coverage that's coming.

So this is a very comprehensive grass-roots effort. As we like to say,
we're trying to reach seniors and the people who care about them -- where
they live, work, pray, and play. And this goes for seniors all over the
country. It goes for the people with a disability who are on Medicare and
depend on Medicare for their medical care. And we're starting early so that
we can reach all of them.

THE PRESIDENT: So in other words, we've had a mailing out -- and by the
way, if you've got a mom or a dad who may have misplaced their mailing or
you didn't get your mailing, there's an easy way to make sure that the
information that is coming out of Washington to help you gets to you, and
that is to call 1-800-MEDICARE, and ask for the application form. If you're
a care giver, and you want to get on the internet, Medicare.gov will enable
you to get these forms, get the information to the people. In other words,
just because somebody got rid of the mailing -- didn't open the mail right
or lost the mailing, doesn't mean you shouldn't get the mailing. It's
worthwhile, believe me. This information is important information to
improving somebody's life.

He talked about -- what was that -- it was kind of an alliterative phrase
there -- "play, pray, and --"

DR. McCLELLAN: Live, work, pray and play, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Live, work, pray and play, good. Well, that's what happens
here at Maple Grove Community Center, isn't that right, Kris?

Listen, thank you for having us. Kris is the senior -- what are you -- what
do you do?

MS. ORLUCK: Mr. President, I'm the senior coordinator here at the Maple
Grove Park and Recreation Department.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. It's quite a varied facility, isn't it? You said you
go from pre-K to a senior center.

MS. ORLUCK: That's correct, from preschool to teen centers to senior
centers.

THE PRESIDENT: Great. And tell me about -- you develop -- what's your job,
what do you do?

MS. ORLUCK: What I do here at the community center is I'm in charge of
developing the senior programs that happen around here. So it may be a
fitness class, it may be a social recreation program, a trip, it may be an
educational class, like a computer class, or a great decisions discussion
group, or it's a wellness and health program, where we bring people in to
educate them about various topics on wellness and health, and Medicare is
one of those topics that we cover.

THE PRESIDENT: Now, you see why I've asked Kris to come up here. Anybody
who's interested in doing their duty, working at a senior center, pay
attention to what Kris is going to tell you. See, she understands if part
of the deal is educate people, there's no better subject than a modern
Medicare bill that's going to help a lot of people with their prescription
drugs.

Kris and I were talking backstage. She is all fully prepared to sue the
time she has allotted with the seniors to say, here's what's available.
Isn't that right?

MS. ORLUCK: That's correct. We're currently working with the local Social
Security Administration to provide education and also opportunities to
register so they'll be able to meet one on one with individuals, and just
come in as a group and hear about the changes and how it affects them and
their --

THE PRESIDENT: There are a lot of senior centers all across America, a
whole lot. And part of the effort to educate our seniors is to reach out to
the senior centers. One of the reasons we used the senior center here is to
say to folks who have got a senior center in Texas or anywhere else, do
your duty, find out what we're talking about, and then educate people.

And I'm confident that when the senior centers realize what's available and
realize how easy it is to get information and how simple it is to pass on
the information, that people across the country will respond, to describe
to seniors the new prescription drugs and give seniors the option, the
choice.

Listen, all we want to do is pass information so people can make a rational
choice. If you're a son or a daughter, help your mom and dad make rational
choice.

I tried that on my mother and it didn't work. (Laughter.) And I bet it
wouldn't work on you, right, Dorothy?

MS. BOURGEOIS: It may. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Dorothy is living here. She's retired.

MS. BOURGEOIS: I'm retired for about 10 years now.

THE PRESIDENT: Are you?

MS. BOURGEOIS: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: And so you come here to the center?

MS. BOURGEOIS: Oh, I come here to the center sometimes and I do some
volunteer work here with Medicare.

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for volunteering, by the way. How about that as an
example. You're never too old to volunteer. In her case, you're never too
young to volunteer. (Laughter and applause.)

"Welcome to Medicare" physical. People understand that yet?

MS. BOURGEOIS: I think they're talking about it somewhat. And when I --
working with the seniors in trying to help them to decide what insurance
they need and so forth, that's one of the things that we cover.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, you see, the way this is going to work is there's going
to be a lot of Dorothys around. She's going to take the information that we
provide -- she's going to be the mentor. She's probably got a heck of lot
more credibility than a lot of other people do with her buddies. And so
she's going to look at the information. And she's going to sit down and
say, take a look.

And if you want to help, become a Dorothy and explain to these people.
First of all, you know, the main line of education -- or the front line of
education is going to be sons and daughters. Do your duty. Help your mom
and dad. That's what you're supposed to do. They helped you, now you help
them. And I think you're going to find you will have done a good service.
Keep -- keep rolling, you're on a roll there.

MS. BOURGEOIS: Yes, I've enjoyed it. I've been doing it for about six
years, so I do enjoy doing it.

THE PRESIDENT: Right. And you're beginning to learn of the new Medicare
plan, I take it?

MS. BOURGEOIS: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MS. BOURGEOIS: Yes, we're learning a lot about it, and we're starting to
get questions on it now.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MS. BOURGEOIS: Just recently.

THE PRESIDENT: And therefore, Mark's job is to make sure that people like
Dorothy have got the answers to the questions. And if not, 1-800-MEDICARE
or Medicare.gov will have the answers.

MS. BOURGEOIS: Yes --

THE PRESIDENT: Are you Internet savvy?

MS. BOURGEOIS: A little bit.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, probably more than --

MS. BOURGEOIS: Not as much as I'd like to be.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, here's -- here's a challenge for you. Why don't we set
up a little computer center here, you know?

MS. ORLUCK: She has one.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, she does have one. (Laughter.) So it's not her fault.
It's yours. (Laughter and applause.)

MS. ORLUCK: I need a refresher course.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's right. (Laughter and applause.) I think it's --
I think, Dorothy, when you analyze the drug benefit, it's going to help
everybody. You've just got to understand that. And it's particularly going
to be beneficial for low-income seniors.

You probably think I'm getting a little repetitive here. I have found in my
line of work, you need to repeat things a lot so people listen. (Laughter.)
And you just keep saying it and saying it and saying it so people will take
a look. This is an important benefit. This is a change -- a positive change
for Medicare. We've strengthened the system. We've modernized the system by
making prescription drugs available for all seniors in a very
cost-effective way, but particularly for the lower income seniors.

And one place where there are a lot of seniors that go is to the
pharmacies. We've asked two folks who work for pharmacies to come and visit
with us because I want to remind those in the pharmaceutical business, the
disbursement business, the retail business, that it's to your interest to
educate people on the drug plan available, and that I think you have a
duty.

I want Steve Preston -- I want to introduce Steve Preston. First of all,
thanks, Dorothy. You did a fine job. Unless you got something else to day.

MS. BOURGEOIS: No, I'll let you do the talking.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you. (Laughter.) Anyway -- (Laughter.)

Steve is -- fair to say an entrepreneur? Small business guy?

MR. PRICE: You could put it that way.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, well, that's good. I happen to think it's a positive
word.

MR. PRICE: It is. I love it.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Small business guy. Where do you live?

MR. PRICE: Duluth, Minnesota. We've got --

THE PRESIDENT: Right, spent some quality time there.

MR. PRICE: -- seven pharmacies there.

THE PRESIDENT: Seven pharmacies. Great. And you -- well -- speak.
(Laughter.)

MR. PRICE: Okay. I'm Steve Preston. I've been a pharmacist for almost 30
years now. I've got seven pharmacies in the Duluth/Superior area. Six of
them are retail. One of them takes care of nothing but nursing home
patients. And --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, and so you see people come to your counters --

MR. PRICE: We see them every day.

THE PRESIDENT: Every day.

MR. PRICE: Every day, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: And I thought you said something very compelling -- this
isn't the first time I met Steve. I saw him behind stage. Anyway, it's --
you said something very compelling to me about watching seniors struggle.

MR. PRICE: We see them every day struggle with the costs and making choices
as to how they're taking their medicines, and skipping days, and skipping
-- not getting their prescriptions at all. And it just drives us crazy that
we've been at this point where we could never do anything to help them
other than just cut our -- to our costs. And so it's going to be wonderful
that there's a program out there to help all seniors, let alone the ones
that need it the most.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, and this is -- and so therefore, one of the reasons why
I've asked Steve to come is that I encourage the folks at the pharmacies to
get the information in hand to distribute to your customers. If you see
somebody hurting, this will help them not hurt. This is a good deal. And
again, I recognize that part of the problem we have is to convince people
who don't really -- some people don't want to change, I know that. You
know, you kind of get set in your ways and it's just kind of inconvenient
to change. But in this case, take a look at the change. Take a look at this
program because it's worthwhile. And as Steve said, I guess you see people
having to make these tough choices.

MR. PRESTON: Yes, and our pharmacists are going to be very knowledgeable as
to where to contact and how to get enrolled in this program. When the drug
discount plan came up, we were instrumental in getting a lot of the people
that really needed the help involved in that program.

THE PRESIDENT: Saved some money.

MR. PRESTON: Including my own father.

THE PRESIDENT: That's good.

Q And he --

THE PRESIDENT: By the way, let me stop you on that. "Including my own
father." I mean, that should be, you know, this is what we expect sons to
be doing, isn't it, saying, hey, Dad, it's an interesting way to make your
life better. Sons and daughters must participate in helping their moms and
dads or grandparents to understand what's available. I mean, this is a
chance to do our duty. I'm going to try to handle my mother, he handled his
father. And so -- (laughter) -- keep rolling.

MR. PRESTON: And that wasn't always real easy with him, because I was
sending him his prescriptions anyway. But he didn't want me absorbing the
cost of them. It bothered him a whole lot.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MR. PRESTON: And so when I enrolled him in the program, he thinks it's
great now. Now he takes everything on time. In fact, he calls me now and
asks me to make sure I send them because he's getting down to a week or
two.

THE PRESIDENT: The drug discount card has worked for 6 million seniors. Now
there's about 42 million on Medicare. And so you can see the scale of work
we've got to do. We've got to go from the six million to make sure this
message gets to 42 million. That's why I'm asking for your help. That's why
I'm asking for Steve's help. I see other pharmacists here. I want to thank
you all for coming. This is a great chance for you, a really good
opportunity to take the information and lay it out to your customers. I
mean, not only will you make sure you've got a customer, you'll make sure
you've done somebody a good service, as well.

Thanks, fine job. Anything else you want to offer?

MR. PRESTON: Not at all.

THE PRESIDENT: You've been a pharmacist for 30 years?

MR. PRESTON: Almost 30.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, started when you were 12? (Laughter.) Anyway, Tamera
Shumaker.

MS. SHUMAKER: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Tamera, what do you do?

MS. SHUMAKER: I work at Walgreen's as a pharmacist, also.

THE PRESIDENT: Pharmacist, right?

MS. SHUMAKER: That's correct.

THE PRESIDENT: Little competition here. Nothing like a little competition
to keep the economy going, by the way. (Laughter.) But you're also a care
giver for your mom, you told me?

MS. SHUMAKER: I am, and that's why I'm sitting here. I am 30 years old and
I have a mother that's going to be 54 in a couple weeks. And she suffers
from a mental illness, and so medications are a big part of her daily life.
And I have been able, because there are so many available programs out
there, I've been able to get her on disability, which is a great program.
And with disability, she can be eligible for Medicare. And because she
doesn't have the assets to pay for them, when this new program comes out in
January, she will be getting her prescriptions free of charge, which is a
nice burden taken off myself and my brothers and the rest of the family.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, see, it's interesting. This program is obviously for
older folks, but also for the disabled, as well. That's why Tamera is here.
And her mom qualifies.

Now, her job as the care giver is to find all this information out, take
the form -- right? I'm kind of leading you along here.

MS. SHUMAKER: Absolutely. Well, it --

THE PRESIDENT: Not even a lawyer, and I'm leading the witness. (Laughter.)

MS. SHUMAKER: Part of it is that when my mom gets forms that come in the
mail and they're five, six, seven pages long, she becomes very overwhelmed
very easily. And so immediately it usually goes into the trash and she
doesn't even remember that she's gotten the information. So I feel it's
very important if someone can step up and help them through that process,
because it's so overwhelming for them that it's a lot easier for me to come
in, for me to go on to the Internet, which she wouldn't even known how to
turn the computer on, but to be able to do that and get that information
out there and get it set up. And it makes her feel really well, also,
because she doesn't have to rely on us.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, see, this is what it's going to take to get people to
understand what's available, the spirit you've just heard here. You've got
the community center, people come, people come to get exercise, they come
to do all projects. One project that we're going to make sure that the
community centers do is "look at what's available" project, the new
Medicare project. I don't know what you call it, but just make sure it
happens.

Then we've got the volunteer. We got the volunteers, people who take time
out of their lives to help somebody. No better way to help somebody, no
better way to make somebody's life better than to find a senior and say,
this is a -- that doesn't understand the program, and say, this is
available for you. It's a fantastic opportunity.

Then we've got the small business guy who sees a lot of people that are
going to benefit from this program. So he's now -- he's not going to say,
what can I sell you, he's now going to say, here's how I'm going to help
you; here's what I'm going to do as a citizen who cares deeply about my
community, how I'm going to help you.

And then we got the daughter, and sons and daughters -- I keep saying this,
I know -- but we've got responsibilities in our society. Those of us who
have been -- who are coming up, got responsibilities to those who raised
us, I think. A healthy society is one in which people assume
responsibility, and there's no greater responsibility than loving your mom
or dad. And the best way to love a mom or a dad is to learn about this drug
benefit in Medicare and help them -- help them apply for it, and you will
have done your duty, as well.

I want to thank you all for coming. I hope you got the message. The message
is, there's good help coming. The law has been passed. I proudly signed it.
Starting October the 1st, the different programs available for seniors will
become available. In the meantime, fill out a form to qualify for the
low-income benefit which will then be available, starting January the 1st.
These are a lot of dates, I know, but it's not all that many. November the
15th, the program opens for enrollment. You have until May 15th so you can
get the discount on the drugs. And I urge you -- I urge you to pass the
word, and I urge you to participate. And I urge our seniors in Minnesota
and all across the country to make sure you take a look at this new
Medicare bill. It's going to help your life a lot.

Thank you all for coming today. I thank our panelists. God bless.
(Applause.)

END 11:42 P.M. CDT

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