Text 2473, 615 rader
Skriven 2006-04-12 23:36:10 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0604125) for Wed, 2006 Apr 12
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President Participates in a Conversation on Medicare Prescription Drug
Benefits in Virginia
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 12, 2006

President Participates in a Conversation on Medicare Prescription Drug
Benefits in Virginia
Richard J. Ernst Community Center
Northern Virginia Community College
Annandale, Virginia


˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Medicare

2:07 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. I first want to thank Bob Templin, who is
the president of Northern Virginia Community College, for hosting us again.
This is a place of educational excellence, and what you're about to watch
is a seminar on the new Medicare benefit. And the reason why we've got to
conduct seminars on education about what's available is because there is a
lot of people who haven't signed up yet for the Medicare benefit, and we
want people to pay attention to what's available.

And one of the interesting things about this meeting is I'm trying to show
that our government is reaching out to people from all walks of life and
all neighborhoods. And so this is my job, I'm the Commander-in-Chief, but
I'm sometimes the educator-in-chief, and that's what I am here to do today.
So thank you for coming.

As you can see, we've got a different way of doing this -- it's not going
to be just a speech, but it's going to be -- I'm going to rely upon our
fellow citizens to help share what's available and why you ought to take a
look, if you're eligible for the Medicare program. We want everybody around
our country who's eligible for Medicare to take a look and see if it will
make your life better. What I'm saying is, it will.

So, Bob, thanks for having us. I want to thank Vellie Dietrich-Hall, the
commissioner of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and
Pacific Islander. Thank you, Vellie. (Applause.) Clayton Fong, who is with
us, he is the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging executive director.
(Applause.) I want to thank all the community leaders here.

I particularly want to thank the veterans who are here with us today. We
have been joined by a special group of people, the veterans from the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team. By the way, Senator Inouye, of Hawaii, was a member
of that very important regimental combat team, and I want to thank you all
for being here today and thanks for serving our country. Welcome.
(Applause.)

I also want to thank the Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, who is going to
have some remarks here. (Applause.)

So we're talking about Medicare. Our government made a commitment to our
seniors to provide health care. My attitude is if government makes a
commitment, then we better make sure we make a good commitment. And I was
worried that the commitment we made to our seniors was not as good as it
could be. And so I went to the United States Congress and said let's work
together to make sure the medicine we provide for our seniors is modern and
is up to date.

One of the things that we didn't do through the Medicare system prior to
this reform was we didn't provide prescription drugs. But prescription
drugs was an important part of medicine. I'll give you an example. If you
would have ulcer surgery under Medicare, the government would pay about
$28,000 -- but the government wouldn't pay one dime for the medicine that
would help you prevent the ulcer surgery in the first place. Now that
didn't make any sense. It didn't make any sense to not pay $500 to save
$28,000.

And so I said, well, we can do better than this. Let's make sure the
medicine we deliver to our seniors is modern. Let's make sure the program
works as well as it possibly can. And we passed a bill.

And so one of the things that this bill does is it says to seniors, here's
a new plan for you to look at. As a matter of fact, in the state of
Virginia, there's over 40 plans to look at -- 40 different options for a
senior to choose from. I thought that was very important to have available
for seniors. Government tends to say, sometimes, I'll choose for you. I
believe government ought to say, we trust you with your choice, and here
are some options from which to choose.

The problem with that is that can be confusing to some seniors. Some people
reach the stage in life where they just simply want a choice. They're happy
with the way things are. And I knew that would be the case when we started
to bring out the Medicare program. So we put in place, and you'll hear from
some people who have been involved with outreach to our senior citizens.
That means, we'll go out and explain to people why the different options
may make sense to a senior, so a senior can design a program to meet his or
her needs that makes the medicine modern. This program helps all seniors
with their drug benefits. That's important to know. This program provides
choices for seniors. And although that can be somewhat confusing, it's an
important part of the program.

As a matter of fact, it's part of my philosophy. My philosophy is, let's
trust the consumer, let's trust the taxpayer. Let's give people different
options from which to choose. Let them design the program, not have the
government design the program for them.

By the way, they estimated the cost at something like $34 per month premium
for the drug program for the typical senior, because there are choices. It
now costs about $25 a month. In other words, choices mean people are going
to compete for your business, and that's an important part of helping to
hold the cost down for the people we're trying to help, as well as the
taxpayers who are paying the bills.

This program provides what's called stopgap insurance. In other words, when
you reach $3,600 for drug costs, the government pays 95 percent of the
bills for you. I think that makes sense. It makes sense for a senior to
know that he or she doesn't have to worry if something out of the ordinary
were to occur, kind of a catastrophic plan would be available to help. It
makes sense for a son or daughter who might be worried about his or her
parents' finances. And so this new plan has got what we call catastrophic
care, or stopgap care, which is very important.

And, finally, if you're a low-income senior -- about a third of the people
eligible for Medicare are low-income -- or incomes are such that they
qualify, the government will pay over 95 percent of all the costs. If
you're a low-income senior, you really need to look at this program. Any
senior needs to look at this program. The average cost savings per senior
on the Medicare program, on these pharmaceuticals, is one-half. People's
drug bills have been cut by half because they have signed up for this
program. And that's really important. It's important for peace of mind,
it's important for the person's pocketbook.

Now, I know that sounds too good to be true, but it's happening all across
the country. As a matter of fact, 29 million people have signed up for this
program. There are 42 million seniors eligible for Medicare, and 29 million
people have signed up since January. And that's positive.

And by the way, when 29 million people show up for a new program, there's
going to be some glitches. And you're about to hear from a man whose job it
is to make sure that he takes care of the glitches. That's what Presidents
do, they delegate. (Laughter.)

We straighten out problems as they occur. Twenty-nine [sic]* people have
signed up. There are 6 million people who have got a job and they don't
need the Medicare. I'm about to talk to a good man in that situation. And
there's 7 million people who are eligible who have yet to sign up. And so
the reason I've come today is to urge every senior here in the room and
around the country who might be listening on TV that if you have not signed
up for the Medicare Part D program, you really need to do it. That's the
seminar part. That's trying to educate people.

And by the way, there's a lot of other people helping. It's not just me.
We've got the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging helping. We've got the
Organization of Chinese Americans helping. AARP is helping seniors realize
what's available. The Federation of Korean Associations is helping to sign
up people. Other Asian American groups all around the country are helping.
Faith-based programs are helping people realize what's available. If you're
a son or a daughter whose parent is eligible for Medicare, you need to do
your duty. Be a good -- be a good, loving child and explain to your parents
that which is available for them.

And how do you do it? You can get on the computer: Medicare.gov. And look
and see whether or not your mom or dad ought to sign up for a program. I'm
just telling you what's happening so far. People are saving a lot of money
when it comes to their prescription drugs.

By the way, prior to this bill, we had people in this country who had to
choose between food and pharmaceuticals, and that wasn't right. We had
people who had to choose between paying their utility bill and whether or
not they could pay for their prescription drugs. And that's not right.

This bill I signed, and this program we're discussing helps change that. If
you're eligible -- and a third of the seniors are eligible -- the
government will pay over 95 percent of your pharmaceuticals. We're a
compassionate country. We want our program for Medicare to work well for
our seniors.

I fully understand some of the seniors say, I don't want any choices. And
that's okay. But somebody ought to at least help you look. It doesn't cost
a dime to look and see whether or not this program is meant for you. It
doesn't cost one penny to see whether or not you can save money -- and I
bet you can. So part of the outreach here is to say to those of you who are
helping our senior citizens realize what's available, thank you for what
you're doing.

We've set a deadline for May 15th for people to sign up in order to get the
discounts involved in the program. And so we're going to spend -- "we"
being the government and people involved in the government -- are going to
spend a lot of time traveling around the country explaining to our senior
citizens, the 7 million who have yet to sign up, take a look. It's a good
deal.

So I've got with me today some people who are involved in the program.
First, Elaine Chao, she just spoke. She's the Secretary of Labor. She's
been in my Cabinet since day one; she's doing a fine job, I'm proud to call
her friend. Do you have some words of wisdom here?

SECRETARY CHAO: Mr. President, I sure do. Number one, remember -- please
remember May 15th is the deadline date for the first enrollment. If you
don't take advantage of the benefits by May 15th, your premiums will
increase if you register by the second date, which is in November. Please
remember May 15th is very important.

Second of all, it's not that difficult to sign up. There are many
organizations in your communities that can be of help. Also, call on your
children, ask your children to help you sign up. Now, we know that there
are many people who speak different languages, so the Department of Health
and Human Services has actually toll-free numbers -- now, I'm going to see
whether I have them here -- we have booklets and brochures in all different
languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Japanese. And
if you are a non-native speaker and you want some help, let me give you
some toll-free numbers as well.

If you speak Chinese, that's Cantonese and Mandarin, the toll-free number
is 1-800-582-4218. Don't bother taking it down, there will be these numbers
available at the desks, but I do want to tell you now just in case. The
Korean number is 1-800-582-4259. And the Vietnamese toll-free number is
1-800-582-4336.

So as the President mentioned, this is a good deal. For the majority of
people, you're going to save money. So take a look at the Medicare Part D
program and please remember, May 15th is the sign up date.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Madam Secretary. Okay, so here's the way this
works. You're the President, you say to the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, "Make sure the plan gets implemented." That's called
"delegation." He then turns to another guy, who happens to be a Texan named
Dr. Mark McClellan. He's the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services. It's a long word for he's in charge of making sure
people know what's available.

So when there's not enough operators to answer the phones -- which took
place earlier this year, as we said, call 1-800-MEDICARE -- a lot of people
called 1-800-MEDICARE and they got a busy signal. So we said, wait a
minute, make sure you've got enough operators. We had a problem with dual
eligible citizens, and he worked it out with the states. He's a
trouble-shooter.

He's also responsible for making sure that enough information gets out so
that people can realize what's available. And I want to thank him; I want
to congratulate him, even before he talks, for recognizing ours is a
diverse nation. And this is an interesting meeting, isn't it, when you
think about it. In other words, there are seniors from all walks of life,
some of whom require a little special help to learn what's available. Maybe
a little assistance with the language. Maybe a special group, they've got
confidence in a special group that might represent their heritage and their
culture, and that group will help explain.

We're reaching out to everybody. We want every senior eligible for Medicare
to realize what's available.

Anyway, McClellan, you're doing a fine job. Why don't you explain to me
what your responsibilities have been and what you intend to do to make sure
people know what's available.

DR. McCLELLAN: Well, than you, Mr. President. As you said, this is the most
important new benefit in the Medicare program in 40 years. And while
prescription drug coverage is really important, this is part of making
Medicare work in a new way to help people stay well and live longer, and
not just pay the bills when they get sick. We can't afford that anymore.

To do that effectively, we need to collaborate. And you talked about
delegation, well, what I've done is help, worked together with many
partners around the country so that people can find out about what Medicare
offers today. We're not just a program to think about when you get sick.
Medicare can help you stay well and live much longer through prescription
drugs, preventive benefits and other help.

So we've started a new approach of reaching out at the grassroots level,
we're partnering with more than 10,000 organizations around the country to
reach all of our diverse beneficiaries where they live and work and play
and pray.

And that includes groups like the ones represented here, like the National
Asian Pacific Center on Aging, Clayton Fong works very closely with me to
help provide some of those translation services that you mentioned. It
involves many local partners, like the Asian Service Center in Washington,
D.C., has worked closely with Qien, who is on my staff at CMS, and many of
our other partners to help get the word out locally.

We want to make sure people know about this important new benefit and if
they have questions, there are lots of places to go to get the personal
information they need to make a good decision and start saving. That
includes the Medicare.gov website, which many of the sons and daughters of
our beneficiaries are using, as well as the beneficiaries themselves. It
includes our 1-800-MEDICARE, 24/7 customer service line, which has around
7,000 trained representatives now and can provide help in multiple
languages for people who call in.

And it includes events like this one, that are taking place all over the
country, more than 1,000 a week, where people like me, many of your other
senior officials are helping to get the word out and helping people find
out about how they can take advantage of this new assistance.

THE PRESIDENT: Back me up here on the low income part of the program.

DR. McCLELLAN: Well, the benefit for prescription drugs is important for
everyone with Medicare. A typical senior can save about $1,100 compared to
not having drug coverage. That's more than half of their drug costs. And
for people with limited incomes, that's about one in three of our seniors
who are living month-to-month on a fixed income, they can qualify for extra
help, they can get their prescriptions for no premium and usually just a
few dollars for each drug, paying 95 percent of their drug costs. And
that's a very important extra help to sign up for, as well. And we can put
you touch with the application process and get you into that program, as
well. It's very important extra help. It's worth about $3,700 a year.

So if you're on Medicare, if you've got a parent who is, someone you care
about who is, looking into this program between now and May 15th means,
literally, $1,100 worth of help, at least; $3,700 worth of coverage if you
have a limited income; and protection for the future against those high
drug costs that you mentioned earlier, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, this is a good deal. And it's really worth people
looking at. I'm going to repeat: If you're a son or a daughter and your
mother or dad is eligible for Medicare, you need to help your parent. You
really do. You need to get on the phone or get on the computer,
medicare.gov, or 1-800-MEDICARE.

Now, Qien He is with us. Qien, where were you born -- yes, I know where you
are. (Laughter.) Where were you born?

DR. HE: I was born in China.

THE PRESIDENT: Isn't that interesting. Now he is a part of making sure that
people realize the opportunities of Medicare. Born whereabouts in China?

DR. HE: Okay. First of all, on behalf of Asian --

THE PRESIDENT: No, where were you born in China?

DR. HE: In China, in Beijing.

THE PRESIDENT Beijing. See, I'm asking the questions. (Laughter.)

DR. HE: Okay.

THE PRESIDENT: And you're a doctor?

DR. HE: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Of what?

DR. HE: Doctor of Social Linguistics.

THE PRESIDENT: Social Linguistics. And when did you come to the States?

DR. HE: Nineteen-ninety.

THE PRESIDENT: Nineteen-ninety. And here you are sitting on the stage with
the President. (Applause.) You're welcome. We're glad you're here.

DR. HE: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: And so what is your job?

DR. HE: Okay, I'm a health insurance specialist for the Centers for
Medicare/Medicaid Services. My office is in Philadelphia.

THE PRESIDENT: Your office is in Philadelphia?

DR. HE: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: So you've come all the way from Philadelphia to be here?

DR. HE: Yes, I come here last night. Tomorrow and tonight, I have to come
back and organize a similar event tomorrow for seminar for people in
Philadelphia. It's called, Market Closure Enrollment event, in
Philadelphia. Actually, Secretary Chao will go with --

THE PRESIDENT: Good. So your job -- one of the jobs is to continue to reach
out to people in the Asian American community to convince them to pay
attention to this program. So are you having any success?

DR. HE: Well, we have a lot of success. But here, I would like to share
some successful stories with you.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, let me hear some.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: See, one of the interesting things about America is that
there are thousands of people who work in the grassroots to make the
communities in which they live a better place. It's really one of the great
things about our country, isn't it, when neighbors help neighbors. And what
he's really saying is, his job is to convince a neighbor to help a
neighbor. That's called grassroots. That's what -- it's kind of an odd
word, maybe, for some to understand. It means at the local level, that
people are willing to help somebody who needs help.

And that's what your job is, isn't it?

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you. Listen, well, I appreciate it. (Applause.)
Hold on, hold on. Thank you. Save your energy. Thank you, very much, for
that, Qien; thanks for your kind words.

What Qien is saying is, is that we recognize there are some people out
there that sometimes aren't able to get the message like other people. And
so we want this message to go throughout all the neighborhoods. Here, we're
talking to Asian Americans, but we want people in every neighborhood to
hear the message.

So, for example, we're working with the AARP to get the word out. The NAACP
has been helpful to make sure that certain seniors who are eligible for
this program get the message. That's what we want.

And so if you know somebody, or if you're listening on TV and know somebody
who's eligible for Medicare, make sure you -- make sure you call their
attention to the program. And, remember, there's a lot of seniors who might
be a little confused at first over the number of choices. But convince them
to be patient and look at what's available and help them design a plan that
meets their needs. And what you will find is there will be savings. People
benefit from this program. It's worthwhile to look at.

I'm talking to Dr. Yining Wang. Welcome, Dr. Wang. Thank you for being
here, sir. Got to speak into the mic. You're a doc?

DR. WANG: Yes, I'm doctor in the research area.

THE PRESIDENT: Where were you born?

DR. WANG: I'm born in Shanghai.

THE PRESIDENT: Shanghai. And here he sits, as well, talking to the
President of the United States. We're glad you're here.

DR. WANG: Yes. Thank you, very much, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Proud you're here. When did you come to the United States?

DR. WANG: Well, it's 1988.

THE PRESIDENT: Nineteen eighty-eight.

DR. WANG: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: That's a fine year.

DR. WANG: No.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it was. (Laughter.) Well, maybe not for you, but for,
you know -- my dad got elected President in '88. Anyway -- (laughter and
applause.) So you were a doctor. Where did you work?

DR. WANG: I'm sorry?

THE PRESIDENT: Where did you work?

DR. WANG: I work in the cardiovascular area for the physiology and
pathology.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, fantastic. And you're now retired?

DR. WANG: I'm retired at the end of year 2004.

THE PRESIDENT: That's good.

DR. WANG: That's good. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: And so what happened? So you hear -- how did you hear about
the Medicare program?

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Very good. Interesting story, isn't it? So here's a man,
he's a well-educated fellow. The first reaction, however, to the program
was: There's so many choices, I don't think I want to get involved. That's
a natural reaction, by the way. And yet, nevertheless, as he said it,
"patience" was the word I think he used -- but somebody helped you
understand. AARP gave you some advice.

DR. WANG: AARP, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: You can get good advice from AARP, you can get good advice
from somebody who works for the CMS, you can get good advice from somebody
from your church, you can get good advice from your son or daughter. There
are all kinds of ways to get good advice.

What we're doing here today is explaining to seniors, there's a lot of
people willing to give you advice. And it's worthwhile taking a look. And
the reason it's worthwhile taking a look is you just heard the reason. The
man said he's going to save about $200 a month. That's good savings.
(Applause.)

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: That's great. You did a good job, doc. Thank you. Very good
job.

DR. WANG: Okay.

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate you. Thank you. Good job, sir.

DR. WANG: Thank you so much.

THE PRESIDENT: Bob Nakamoto, third generation American. Welcome.

MR. NAKAMOTO: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Look, this is a guy still working. Remember I said there's 6
million people still working who get good health care? He's one of the 6
million. Working strong at age 74, and he's not going to slow down a bit.

MR. NAKAMOTO: That's right.

THE PRESIDENT: Isn't that right? (Applause.) What do you do, Bob?

MR. NAKAMOTO: I'm a chairman of a company called Base Technologies. We do
IT consulting work, primarily with the federal and state government; based
in McLean, Virginia, and third generation Japanese American.

THE PRESIDENT: Congratulations. And how is your company doing?

MR. NAKAMOTO: We're doing well. We could do better with your help.
(Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Give a man a mic, there's no telling what he's going to say.
(Laughter.) Give us your experience. You took a look at what was going on,
didn't you?

MR. NAKAMOTO: Pardon?

THE PRESIDENT: You took a look at the Medicare.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: See, here's the reason why we've asked Bob -- one, is we
like to be around successful people, don't we? Secondly, he is a fellow who
is eligible, but has chosen to stay on the current program provided by his
company, but recognizes that upon leaving the company, there's a good
program available. And that's important for people to understand.

Twenty-nine million people have signed up. Here's one right here. There are
6 million people who have not signed up because they're working -- and
that's Bob. I bet there's somebody out there who represents that part of
the 7 million people who are eligible, yet who haven't signed up. And it's
really important for you to look.

So you've been looking around at these things, taking a look. You find it
okay? I mean, you're a computer guy, so it's a little unfair to say whether
-- you know, whether or not --

MR. NAKAMOTO: We're okay with that.

THE PRESIDENT: Using friendly -- it's user-friendly.

MR. NAKAMOTO: Right.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. See, we try to design this program so it's called,
"user friendly." That means you can get on there if you're -- you don't
have to be a computer genius like Bob, and take a look.

MR. NAKAMOTO: Right.

THE PRESIDENT: Your advice is? Retire and get on it.

MR. NAKAMOTO: Right.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, not retire, but when retire.

MR. NAKAMOTO: Yes. I don't know when that's going to be, but when that time
comes, you'll know about it.

THE PRESIDENT: There you go. (Laughter.) Well, listen, I hope you get the
feeling for why we're here. We're here to explain a really interesting
opportunity for our seniors. If you don't want to sign up, by the way, you
don't have to. The government is not making you do anything you don't want,
but what the government is doing is giving you a lot of opportunities. In
the case of Virginia citizens, over 40 opportunities to choose a program
that suits your particular needs.

And by that I mean there's all different kinds of structures for the
programs. You might be taking this kind of drug or that kind of drug. You
might be taking a lot of drugs a month, or no drugs a month. And,
therefore, you can design a program that says, this is best for me.

I strongly urge our fellow citizens to take a look. I want to thank those
of you who are helping our seniors see what's available. And keep doing it,
up until May 15th. And even after May 15th. I repeat, if you're a son or a
daughter and your parent is eligible for Medicare, do them a favor and do
your duty by getting on medicare.gov or calling 1-800-MEDICARE and find out
what's available. Or just get people to send the forms to you and look. Ask
your parents questions, or ask your parents' doctors questions, or ask your
parents' pharmacist questions about what program they need. If you're a
senior and you're going to your local pharmacy, many of the pharmacists are
helping our seniors design a program that meets their needs.

Is it worth it? I really think it is. If you're a poor senior, the
government will pay most of your drugs. We really don't want to be a
society where seniors have to choose between food and medicine. It's worth
it even if you're not in that income category, because you'll save money.

And saving money is good after you retire. It'll help you. If you're a son
or a daughter -- again, I repeat -- do your duty. It will give you peace of
mind to know that your mom or dad are taken care of.

We worked hard to get this bill passed. It's a good piece of legislation.
It's one of those times where people are going to be able to say, well, the
government actually did a good thing for us.

And so I want to thank you all for coming. I particularly want to thank our
panelists. I want to thank my fellow citizens who've come. I particularly
want to, again, thank the vets -- veterans who are here. Bob, thanks for
your hospitality. Thank you for paying attention.

May God bless you all. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 2:44 P.M. EST

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