[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.