[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 20 (Monday, May 20, 2002)]
[Pages 838-842]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Coalition for Medicare Choices

May 17, 2002

    Well, thanks for that warm welcome, and welcome to the people's 
house, the White House. I am so glad you're here to discuss an 
incredibly important subject, and that is how we can work together to 
strengthen Medicare.
    The most eloquent spokespersons for Medicare are our senior 
citizens. And I share the determination of people in this room to make 
sure that Medicare is--not only works for this generation, the 
generation now on Medicare, but works for generations to come. Our 
Nation has a moral commitment to fulfill Medicare's promise of health 
care security for American seniors and for people with disabilities. 
Yet, we need to do more to meet the commitment, and that's what we're 
here to talk about today.
    Two problems demand immediate action: Medicare must provide 
prescription drug coverage, and all seniors should be able to choose an 
affordable Medicare coverage option that best suits their needs. We're 
going to keep our commitment to senior Americans, and we'll work 
together to make Medicare work better.
    I want to thank Tom Scully from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 
Services for being here--that used to be called HCFA. [Laughter] He 
joins me in a strong commitment for that which I'm about to talk about. 
You need to know, my administration is committed to trusting seniors 
with more options. We're committed to the programs and the principles 
about which I'm going to speak.
    I want to thank my fellow Americans who have joined us on the stage. 
I want to thank the Salazars; they're from Texas. [Laughter] I want to 
thank Mary Gruenewald for being here as well. I want to thank Joe Hotin 
and Ben Oppenheim, Florence Galloway, the Holmes family. Thank you all 
for coming and sharing with me your deep concerns and for sharing with 
others your concern about how to make sure Medicare fulfills its 
promise.
    I want to thank the docs who are here, one from California and one 
from Florida. I asked him if he'd ever heard of the Governor down there. 
[Laughter] Dr. Bangasser and Dr. Thompson--I want to thank them for 
being here as well. They're men who are deeply concerned about the 
health and welfare of our seniors, who understand firsthand the problems 
that Medicare faces.
    The health care system that we have in America is unique and strong 
in many ways. After all, we lead the world in dramatic medical advances, 
and that's really positive. It's important, as we think about medical 
policy, that we encourage innovation in our health system. After all, 
live-saving drugs are helping millions of senior citizens--millions of 
senior citizens to live longer and to have healthier lives.
    New drugs are available to treat diabetes, for example, and that's a 
positive development for many of our seniors. New drugs are available to 
prevent serious complications from heart disease or cancer, and that's 
incredibly positive news as well. Yet, as many in this room can testify, 
the costs of these treatments are really high. Because Medicare does not 
cover most prescription drugs, many seniors often pay the highest price 
for drugs, forcing too many to choose with either paying for pills or 
paying for their bills.
    Members of Congress in both House and Senate are working on 
legislation, and that's a positive development, and that's good. They're 
hearing my call and your call to do something about Medicare. In the 
House,

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the committees and the leadership are drafting legislation to help 
seniors immediately with drug costs and to ensure every senior has 
access to prescription drug coverage. That's a positive development, and 
we're hopeful to get this legislation out of the House very soon. In the 
Senate, there is a tripartisan group working on legislation to provide 
prescription drug coverage and improve Medicare, and I support their 
efforts as well.
    So we've got something to work with. And I urge you all to not only 
pay attention to the process but let your voices be heard as the 
process--the legislative process starts heading down toward, hopefully, 
a conclusion this year.
    My administration is doing some things in the short term that I'd 
like to share with you. We're working for a Medicare-endorsed drug card 
that will allow seniors to get lower prices from drug manufacturers 
right away. I unleashed the idea a while back. It kind of got snagged up 
in the courts. Now we're working to get it unsnagged in the courts for 
the benefit of our seniors. This is a good idea, and this will help.
    We're also working on temporary assistance with drug costs for 
seniors with limited incomes. We're trying to bridge toward the time 
when full prescription drug benefits become available. In other words, 
we want to help people who need help immediately. Those are two ideas 
that we're working with Congress on.
    Medicare also needs to give every senior affordable, up-to-date 
health insurance coverage options to get the most out of Medicare. Right 
now in America, more than 5 million Medicare members have access to a 
valuable program, to a modern health insurance program with modern 
health benefits called Medicare Plus Choice. Medicare Plus Choice is a 
vital program if we're going to meet our commitments to our seniors. And 
Congress ought to understand how vital the program is and how important 
the program is. They need to listen not only to me--of course, I'd like 
them to listen a little more to me--[laughter]--but to the folks here in 
this room, the people who understand.
    Now, let me give you some interesting facts. Many Medicare members, 
including those with limited means, including those with low incomes, 
prefer these private health plans because they provide more benefits 
than traditional Medicare at lower cost. If you find an idea that 
provides better benefits at lower cost, it seems like it makes sense 
that people up on the Hill there would understand that.
    The improved benefits and innovative treatments have given Fred 
Salazar the assistance he needed to get his diabetes under control. 
That's not just theory; that's actually happened. Ben Oppenheim improved 
his arthritis and lowered the amount he spends on his arthritis 
treatment through an exercise program provided in his health plan. 
Florence Galloway got the bills paid for the care she needed when she 
fell and broke a backbone in Spain. She got the care she needed. Arina 
Holmes was hospitalized with a serious illness. She was not saddled with 
hundreds of dollars of deductibles and co-payments for her care.
    These are examples, right here, of people who have benefited in a 
real way from the innovative options under Medicare Plus. Some plans in 
Medicare Plus even make it possible for their members to help other 
seniors with transportation or grocery shopping or yardwork or other 
needs. That's also very positive.
    What's important to understand is that almost none of the treatments 
that I described--or programs that can save and improve lives and reduce 
health care costs--are part of Medicare's defined benefits. Many are 
only available through Medicare's private plans, and that's important to 
understand. As we discuss Medicare and it's reform, it's important to 
understand that the defined benefit plan in Medicare limits the capacity 
of seniors to meet their needs. And that doesn't seem right to me.
    Dr. Thompson--Dr. Isaac Thompson said this: ``Medicare Plus Choice 
has served as a safety net for my patients and for tens of thousands of 
beneficiaries, so many of whom are low income and would otherwise not be 
able to afford the drugs they need.'' This is Dr. Thompson speaking, a 
man who makes a living off of helping seniors, a person who understands 
Medicare and Medicare Plus Choice, and the differences between the two.

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You know, as he talks eloquently about low income seniors, the myth is, 
somehow, that if seniors are given choice, low income seniors will not 
benefit; that if we provide more options for our senior citizens to 
tailor plans that meet their needs, that somehow the low income will be 
left behind. That's the opposite of what Dr. Thompson has learned, 
because it is the opposite of what happens with Medicare Plus Choice.
    We've got to address this issue straight on. Millions of Medicare 
members don't have the option to choose benefits from private health 
plans, and access to these benefits for everyone in Medicare is 
threatened. Under current law, private health plans cannot compete in 
Medicare in the same way that the Federal Government has long provided 
for people who work for the Federal Government.
    I've always found that to be pretty interesting, that the people who 
make the laws here in Washington--good, fine people from both political 
parties--make sure that the Federal employees have choice. They trust 
the Federal employees with whom they work to be able to go into the 
marketplace and figure out what best suits their needs. And yet, when it 
comes to our seniors, through Medicare, they don't get the same 
benefits. It seems like, to me, that the Congress ought to be consistent 
with how they view--[applause].
    You know better than me--or you know as well as I do, at least--that 
the current system hasn't reflected rising costs. The lack of enthusiasm 
for choice for seniors has affected budgets. And therefore, 100 private 
plans have left Medicare, and millions of seniors have lost the valuable 
additional benefits that private plans provide. To be blunt about it, it 
seems like Medicare Plus Choice is getting slowly starved, and we've got 
to change that.
    Part of my message today is, I want to work with you to provide more 
choices and more savings for our seniors. I'm a person who trusts 
people. See, I trust the American people. The American people are 
fantastic, great citizens. We've got to trust people with their own 
choices in life. I'd rather have the American people make choices than 
the Federal Government make choices on their behalf.
    We need a fair system of competition. We need a system that 
guarantees that patient protections and all of Medicare's required 
benefits are included in every choice, a system that encourages 
additional benefits and options for better care at lower cost, including 
improved medical savings accounts. That's what we need to think about, 
and that's where we ought to head here in America.
    The cost savings from competitive reforms are essential. They're 
essential. If you notice, and the people will testify to this, that 
there are lower costs in Medicare Plus Choice. And those cost savings in 
a Medicare Plus Choice plan are very important for the future, for your 
children and your grandchildren to be able to have a Medicare system 
that works. We must this year pass legislation that gives all seniors 
secure access to prescription drugs, along with up-to-date, lower cost 
coverage options in Medicare. That's the goal.
    I believe strongly that we've got to make sure that our seniors 
understand that if you're happy with your current Medicare coverage, 
nothing changes. There are a lot of our citizens who worry that any kind 
of strengthening of the system will maybe disrupt their current health 
plans. And I can understand that. I can understand someone who is 
perhaps content with the way things are and shouldn't be forced to 
change, particularly at this point in somebody's life. And I respect 
that, and any reform must honor that. We've got to make sure, however, 
that the promise of prescription drugs is a part of any plan and that we 
recognize that as treatments change, as the ability to treat a disease 
changes with modern times, that the people we're trying to help are able 
to realize those benefits.
    You see, Medicare was written awhile ago, in such a way that it 
doesn't have the ability to change. And so all of a sudden, technology 
is heading here, and Medicare is stuck back here. And Medicare Plus 
Choice has provided seniors with the ability to stay up with technology. 
That's why you're so supportive of it, and that's why I am as well. But 
we've got to make sure that the whole system moves with the 
technological change, so we can benefit--all of us, not just the young 
but

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all of us can benefit from the new technologies available to help save 
lives.
    I believe that when we trust people with their--trust their 
decisions and trust their judgment about how best to care for 
themselves, a better plan evolves, a much better plan than one designed 
by some green eye-shades up on Capitol Hill, because it will be a plan 
designed by the consumers, not by the planners. It's a plan that evolves 
as a result of the collective decisions of people we're trying to help, 
not by some who aren't even in the plan.
    And so what we're talking about today is recognizing the importance 
of Medicare Plus Choice, what it means to people's lives in real terms, 
how it can positively affect people that we have a moral obligation to 
help, but also how best to incorporate the principles of the plan to 
expand it, to make it work for more seniors and, at the same time, make 
sure Medicare works for people like me, when it's my time--to make sure 
that it's not only healthy today but healthy tomorrow, that it can exist 
and be available.
    I believe we can make good progress, but we need your help. To be 
frank with you, there are some up there that really don't like this 
plan, and I understand that. I mean, what the heck, that's the great 
thing about democracy; not everybody agrees 100 percent of the time. We 
all agree we need to help the seniors, and that's important. But to the 
extent that you can help influence opinion, it's really important; it 
is. People listen--people listen--people around here listen to opinion, 
and they listen to people such as yourself, who understand what you're 
talking about. And we need your help to get this done.
    There's a reluctance, but it's okay. It's--you've seen reluctance in 
your life before. You've lived a good, strong, full life in the service 
of your country, many of you, and now is your chance to provide a unique 
service, an important service not only for yourself but future 
generations that are coming up, by spreading the word, by contacting 
your Congressman or your Senator. Let them know. Let them know the 
importance of this program and this idea.
    I also want to thank you for your service to the country. You know, 
you know better than me that--you've see a lot of America in your day, 
and it's a fabulous country that we're able to call home. It's a--what a 
remarkable land, where we share common values. People from all walks of 
life come into--underneath this unique experiment called America. Our 
spirit is strong. It's never been more needed these days, of course, as 
we make it clear to the world and to an enemy that we'll defend our 
freedoms at any cost.
    You know, I like to remind people, those that attacked, they must 
have thought that we were so selfish and so weak and so materialistic 
that we might file a couple of lawsuits or two, but that's all we were 
going to do. [Laughter] They found out we think a little differently 
here in America when it comes to our freedom. And that when it comes to 
our freedoms that we love--the freedom to worship the way each of us 
sees fit, the freedom to raise our family the way we think is necessary, 
the freedom to speak out, freedom of the press--the freedoms that we 
hold dear, if anybody attacks those freedoms, we'll defend them. We'll 
defend them.
    You need to know about me that I am as resolved as I was the day 
after the attack, today. I know my duty, and my duty is to protect 
America in the best way. And as we do so, I believe we'll make the world 
safer. I long for peace. I just want you to know and assure you that the 
actions my administration takes has a lofty goal in mind, and that's 
peace, peace for our country, peace around the world. That's why we do 
what we do.
    But we need to make the world not only safer but better, a better 
place. And one way we can make the world a better place is to make sure 
our seniors are treated with dignity, by starting with a health care 
plan that provides options.
    So I want to thank you all for coming to this magnificent house, the 
White House. It's--as you can imagine, it's an honor to be here, and 
it's an honor to welcome you here.
    May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 1:11 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Dr. Ronald Paul Bangasser, family 
physician, Redlands, CA; and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida.

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