[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 24 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[Pages 1006-1010]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Implementing the Medicare Modernization Act

June 16, 2005

    Thank you very much. Please be seated--unless you don't have a seat. 
[Laughter] Thanks for coming. It's glad--I'm glad to be back to the 
Department of Health and Human Services. The last time I visited here

[[Page 1007]]

was to witness Secretary Leavitt's swearing in. I said I'd be coming 
back to check up on him. [Laughter] I'm back. [Laughter] He's doing a 
fine job; really appreciate your leadership.
    I'm grateful to the men and women of this Department for their 
compassion and service. Thanks for serving our country. I want to thank 
you all for helping us launch a vital effort to bring greater peace of 
mind to America's seniors and people with disabilities. Over the next 11 
months, we will spread important news to everyone receiving Medicare. 
This great and trusted program is about to become even better. Starting 
this November, every American on Medicare can sign up to get help paying 
for their prescription drugs.
    I appreciate Mike Leavitt's understanding of how important it is to 
spread the news. I also want to thank my friend Mark McClellan for doing 
such a fine job at the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services. I want 
to thank you all who work there with him. You've got an important job 
now. We've passed good law. Now it's important for people to get the 
news.
    I want to thank members of my Cabinet who are here who are going to 
help spread the news to their Departments, Secretary Elaine Chao, 
Secretary Alphonso Jackson, Secretary Norm Mineta, Secretary Jim 
Nicholson. Thank you all for coming, as well as Commissioner Jo Anne 
Barnhart of the Social Security Administration. Welcome. Thank you all 
for being here.
    I appreciate so very much all the other administration officials who 
are here. I want to thank an old family friend of ours, Dr. Louis 
Sullivan, former Secretary of HHS, for joining us. Louis, I was looking 
at that picture up there--[laughter]--looks like him. [Laughter] Tell me 
who the painter was--I'd like one to look like me one of these days. 
[Laughter]
    I want to thank Senator Craig Thomas from Wyoming for joining us. 
Thank you for being here, Senator. I also want to thank former Senator 
John Breaux for joining us. I can remember John was one of the leaders 
in the United States Senate in trying to bring people together to reform 
Medicare. I want to thank you for your help on this. I want to thank you 
for being here. I particularly want to thank the leaders and 
representatives of the health care, faith-based and community 
organizations who are all going to help spread the word to our seniors 
about what is available. I appreciate you being here. I want to thank 
you for your compassion and your care for America's seniors.
    I also want to welcome the Medicare beneficiaries who are here in 
attendance. Listen carefully, I think you're going to like what you 
hear.
    Forty years ago--think about that, 40 years ago this summer, 
President Lyndon Baines Johnson, from the great State of Texas--
[laughter]--signed a law creating Medicare to guarantee health care for 
seniors and Americans with disabilities. In the decades since that 
historic act, Medicare has spared millions of our citizens from needless 
suffering and hardship. Medicare is a landmark achievement of a 
compassionate society. It is a basic trust that our Government will 
always honor.
    Medicare has also faced challenges. For decades, medicine advanced 
rapidly and grew to include innovations like prescription drugs, but 
Medicare didn't keep pace. As a result, Medicare recipients were left 
with a program based on the medicine of the 1960s. For example, Medicare 
would pay $28,000 for ulcer surgery but not $500 for the prescription 
drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers. Medicare would pay more 
than $100,000 to treat the effects of a stroke but not $1,000 for blood-
thinning drugs that could prevent strokes. That's an outdated system, 
and it made no sense for American seniors. It made no sense for 
Americans with disabilities, and it made no sense for American 
taxpayers.
    Year after year, politicians pledged to reform Medicare, but the job 
never got done until 2003, when members of both political parties came 
together to deliver the greatest advance in health care for seniors 
since the founding of Medicare. This new law is bringing preventive 
medicine, better health care choices, and prescription drugs to every 
American receiving Medicare. The Medicare Modernization Act renewed the 
promise of

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Medicare for the 21st century, and I was honored and proud to sign that 
piece of legislation.
    Over the past year, millions of Americans have started to benefit 
from the new Medicare program. Every senior entering Medicare is now 
eligible for a ``Welcome to Medicare'' physical. It's a fundamental 
improvement, and it makes a lot of sense. Medicare patients and doctors 
are now able to work together to diagnose health care and health 
concerns right away. And there's a simple reason: The sooner you 
diagnose a problem--you can treat problems before they become worse. 
Medicare now covers preventive screenings that can catch illness from 
diabetes to heart disease. Medicare is covering innovative programs to 
help seniors with chronic diseases like high blood pressure. I urge 
every senior to take advantage of these new benefits in Medicare.
    In the 21st century, preventing and treating illness requires 
prescription drugs. Seniors know this. Yet because Medicare did not 
cover prescription drugs, many seniors had to make painful sacrifices to 
pay for medicine. In my travels around the country, I met seniors who 
faced the agonizing choice between buying prescription drugs and buying 
groceries. I met retirees who resorted to cutting pills in half. I met 
Americans who were forced to spend their retirement years working, just 
to pay for their prescriptions. These hardships undermine the basic 
promise of Medicare. And thanks to Medicare Modernization Act, those 
days are coming to an end.
    To provide immediate help with drug costs, the new Medicare law 
created drug discount cards. Over the past year, millions of seniors 
have used these cards to save billions of dollars. In Missouri, I met a 
woman who used her discount card to buy $10 worth of drugs for $1.14. 
She was happy with the card. Another senior went to her pharmacy and 
spent under $30 for medicine that used to cost about four times as much. 
And here is what she said: ``When he got out my medicine card . . . and 
told me what the savings was, I about dropped my false teeth.'' 
[Laughter]
    The Medicare Modernization Act created a prescription drug benefit 
to replace drug discount cards and bring savings and peace of mind to 
all 42 million Medicare beneficiaries. The new benefit will help every 
senior as well as Americans with developmental and physical disabilities 
and mental illnesses and HIV/AIDS. Congress scheduled the prescription 
drug benefit to start in January of 2006. Thanks to the leadership of 
Secretary Leavitt and Mark McClellan, we are on track to deliver 
prescription drug coverage on time to every American senior.
    As Medicare's professional staff prepares to implement the 
prescription drug benefit, we also must ensure that seniors are ready to 
take full advantage of their new opportunities. And that's why I've come 
here today. It's important for everyone to understand that Medicare 
prescription drug coverage is voluntary. Seniors can choose to take 
advantage of the benefit, or they can choose not to. It's up to them.
    And there's plenty of time to make the decision. Starting on October 
1st, Medicare beneficiaries will begin getting information about the new 
prescription drug plans available. They will receive a handbook called 
``Medicare and You'' that includes detailed information about their 
options. If they like what they see and choose to get prescription drug 
coverage, they can enroll anytime between November 15th of this year and 
May 15th of next year. Beneficiaries should make their decisions as soon 
as they are ready, because enrolling before May will ensure that they 
pay the lowest possible premiums.
    The Federal Government will work hard to ensure that Medicare 
beneficiaries understand their options. I've asked every agency that 
touches the lives of seniors or disabled Americans to devote resources 
to explaining the prescription drug benefit. And we need the help of 
people in the private sector as well. The only way to reach everyone on 
Medicare is to mobilize compassionate citizens in communities all over 
the country. And that's why we've come together this afternoon to kick 
off a nationwide outreach campaign.
    Over the next 11 months, we will unite a wide range of Americans 
from doctors to nurses to pharmacists to State and local leaders to 
seniors groups to disability advocates to faith-based organizations. 
Together, we

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will work to ensure that every American on Medicare is ready to make a 
confident choice about prescription drug coverage, so they can finally 
receive the modern health care they deserve.
    As we spread the word about the new opportunities in Medicare, we 
will make it clear that prescription drug coverage will provide greater 
peace of mind for beneficiaries in three key ways.
    First, the new Medicare coverage will provide greater peace of mind 
by helping all seniors and Americans with disabilities pay for 
prescription drugs, no matter how they pay for medicine now. On average, 
Medicare beneficiaries will receive more than $1,300 in Federal 
assistance to pay for prescription drugs. Seniors with no drug coverage 
and average prescription expenses will see their drug bills reduced by 
half or more. The new Medicare benefits will also provide special help 
for seniors with the highest drug costs. Starting in January, Medicare 
will cover 95 percent of all prescription costs after a senior has spent 
$3,600 in a year. Seniors will never be able to predict what challenges 
life will bring, but thanks to Medicare, they can be certain they will 
never have their entire savings wiped out to pay for prescription drugs.
    Second, the new Medicare coverage will provide greater peace of mind 
by offering beneficiaries better health care choices than they have ever 
had. Seniors will be able to choose any Medicare prescription drug plan 
that fits their needs and their medical history. Seniors who want to 
keep their Medicare the way it is will be able to do so. Seniors using 
Medicare Advantage to save money will be able to keep their plans and 
get better drug benefits. Seniors who receive drug coverage from a 
former employer or union can count on new support from Medicare to help 
them keep their good benefits. Every prescription drug plan will offer a 
broad choice of brandname drugs and generic drugs. Seniors will also 
have the choice to pick up their prescriptions at local pharmacies or to 
have the medicine delivered to their home.
    These options might sound familiar to some of you here at the 
Department. It's got to sound familiar to Members of the United States 
Congress. After all, these health care choices, these kind of choices 
are available for people who work here in Washington. And if these 
choices are good enough for people who work here in Washington, they 
ought to be good enough for the seniors all across the country.
    Third, the new Medicare coverage will provide greater peace of mind 
by extending extra help to low-income seniors and beneficiaries with 
disabilities. For years, beneficiaries on the tightest budgets received 
no help from Medicare to pay for prescription drugs. Because we acted, 
about a third of American seniors will be eligible for a Medicare drug 
benefit that includes little or no premiums, low deductibles, and no 
gaps in coverage. On average, Medicare will pick up the tab for more 
than 95 percent of prescription drug costs for low-income seniors. To 
receive this important assistance, low-income seniors have to fill out a 
straightforward, four-page application form with, at most, 16 questions. 
No financial documents or complicated records are required, and the 
forms are easy to obtain. In fact, millions of applications have already 
been mailed to low-income seniors. If you or a family member receives 
one of these, I urge you to fill it out and send it in. Some of the 
seniors groups that are here have a saying, ``When in doubt, fill it 
out.'' [Laughter] By encouraging all low-income seniors to sign up for 
extra assistance, we will ensure that Medicare gives its greatest help 
to those with the greatest needs.
    With all of these essential reforms, the Medicare Modernization Act 
created a new commitment to seniors and Americans with disabilities, and 
all of you are helping to make good on that commitment. By lending a 
hand to neighbors in need, you are strengthening your communities and 
showing the great compassion of our country. Many organizations have 
already launched innovative efforts to reach seniors. And I'll continue 
to call on people to put forth innovative strategies to reach our 
seniors.
    For example, in Wisconsin and Indiana, more than 270 community 
leaders are coming together to find ways to get information to rural 
seniors. In Chicago, a food pantry, the Catholic Archdiocese, and a news 
publication are all working to get the word out

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about the new Medicare benefits. The Federal Department of 
Transportation, under the leadership of Norm Mineta, is working with 
local agencies to post Medicare information in buses and at highway rest 
stops. Thousands of pharmacies are working with Medicare to provide 
information for seniors. Countless other organizations are holding 
community events and connecting with seniors face to face, so Medicare 
recipients can get their questions answered and make informed choices 
about prescription drug coverage. In other words, we're on a massive 
education effort, starting today. And I'm asking for America's help.
    You can help by making a call to your mother or father and tell them 
what's available. You can help by showing an older neighbor how to fill 
out a form. You can help by spending an afternoon at the local 
retirement home. And by the way, when you help somebody, you're really 
helping yourself. You can get information 24 hours a day calling 1-800-
MEDICARE. It's pretty easy to remember, 1-800-MEDICARE. Or you can use 
the Internet to visit the official Medicare web site at medicare.gov. 
All you've got to do is type in medicare.gov, and you're going to find 
out what I'm talking about.
    Remember that information about prescription drug plans will be 
available starting October 1st, and November 15th is the first day to 
sign up for the new coverage. You need to circle those dates on your 
calendar and tell the seniors in your life that modern medicine is on 
the way. This is a good deal, and people need to take advantage of it.
    I think the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act is a good 
lesson for all of us who work in this city. You know, it wasn't all that 
long ago the leaders who talked about Medicare reform faced a lot of 
name-calling--to say the least. When Congress finally rose above 
politics and fulfilled its duty to America's seniors, it showed what's 
possible in Washington, DC. We need that same spirit--[applause]. I 
mean, this bill is proof that Americans really aren't interested in 
seeing one party win and another party lose. What Americans want to see 
is people coming together to solve problems. That's what they want to 
see.
    We had a problem in Medicare. It wasn't working the way it should. 
It wasn't modern. It wasn't answering the needs of our seniors. And by 
coming together, we have done our job here in Washington. And as a 
result of working together, we have changed Medicare for the better. 
Medicare is now modern, reformed, and compassionate. And I urge all 
seniors--all seniors and those folks here in America who want to help 
seniors, look into this new prescription drug benefit; it will make your 
life better.
    Thank you all for coming. God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 1:22 p.m. at the Department of Health and 
Human Services.