    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [May 9, 2006]
    [Page 894]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to Reporters in Coconut Creek, Florida
    May 9, 2006

        The President. I want to thank you all for joining us. I'm proud to
    be here with Secretary Leavitt. We're
    traveling the country reminding people that there's a fantastic
    opportunity for our seniors, and that is, Medicare now offers a
    prescription drug benefit that will save people a lot of money.
        We just visited with some of our citizens inside there, and they're
    talking about significant savings. And that's what we want; we want our
    seniors to be able to have modern medicine. So far a lot of seniors have
    signed up. It's coming down the stretch toward the May 15th deadline; we
    want everybody to sign up. We want people to understand that they're
    going to save a lot of money when it comes to prescription drugs.
        And I appreciate Secretary Leavitt's
    hard work. One of the things that our seniors have got to understand,
    that if you qualify for extra help in the program, if you're a low-
    income senior that qualifies for extra help, the May 15th deadline
    doesn't apply to you; you'll have time to take a look--we want everybody
    signing up. And if you're a low-income senior, you get--the Government
    pays about 95 percent or more of your prescription drug benefit. So it's
    worthwhile for people to look.
        I want to thank groups like the AARP, NAACP, many in the faith
    community, community-based groups, all for working hard to educate
    seniors as to what's available. This is a good deal for America's
    seniors, and I'm proud to have signed a law to modernize Medicare, and
    I'm proud to be working with Michael.
        I also want to thank Congressman Foley and
    Congressman Clay Shaw for joining us.
    They're strong backers of Medicare reform. They were informing me that a
    lot of their citizens have signed up. In south Florida, people are
    taking advantage of this program. And I strongly urge people to take a
    look and see what's available.

    [At this point, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
    Michael O. Leavitt made brief remarks.]

        The President. Thank you all for joining us. Thank you all very
    much, I appreciate it.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:53 a.m. at Broward Community College. The
    transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
    the remarks of Secretary Leavitt.