[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 19 (Monday, May 15, 2006)]
[Pages 889-901]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit and a Question-and-
Answer Session in Sun City Center, Florida

May 9, 2006

    The President. Thanks for coming. Please be seated. Thanks for the 
warm welcome. It's great to be here in Sun City Center. Brother Jeb 
said, ``If you want to come to a really good place, come here.'' First 
of all, I think it's a pretty neat deal when you get introduced by your 
brother, particularly since he's such a good Governor. We both share the 
same political adviser--Mom. [Laughter] I don't know if Mother is still 
telling you what to do, Jeb, but she's certainly telling me what to do 
all the time. [Laughter]
    And both of us married well. The first lady of Florida is a 
fantastic woman, and so is the First Lady of the United States. Laura 
sends her very best. She sends her love. Yesterday she represented us in 
Costa Rica. They inaugurated a new President, and they sent the word 
back--please send the best in your family. [Laughter] So we sent Laura.
    I'm also proud to be joined by Congressman Adam Putnam. Where's 
Adam? There he is. Thank you. He's a smart guy. He's a smart person, and 
he's a good guy to work with, and I appreciate you being here, Adam.
    I want to thank the WCI Communities' leadership and staff for having 
me here.
    What I thought I would do is spend a little time talking about the 
new Medicare program. The reason I'm doing this, because I want people 
to sign up. And then I'll answer some questions, if you have some. And 
then I'm going to go over to Orlando and do the same thing tomorrow 
morning--just like I did earlier in south Florida. And the reason why 
I'm doing this is because we have changed Medicare for the better, but 
sometimes change creates anxieties. In other words, people say, ``Well, 
maybe I don't want to change. I kind of like it the way things are.'' 
And--but we have a duty to educate people and give them a chance to see 
what's

[[Page 890]]

available, and that's what I'm doing. That's what you want your 
President to do.
    First thing, let me give you a little history. As you know, Medicare 
was signed by one of my predecessors--happened to be from the State of 
Texas, Lyndon Baines Johnson. And it's a vital program. It's a program 
that has worked. It's a necessary program. Medicare is a commitment of 
the Federal Government. And once you make a commitment, it seems like to 
me, it makes sense to make the commitment a good commitment. In other 
words, you want it to work. You want it to be a modern, excellent 
program.
    Medicare had done a--provided a lot of comfort for a lot of people, 
but it was getting old and stale; it needed to be reformed. And one 
reason it needed to be reformed is because it did not provide 
prescription drug coverage. And you know that. In other words, Medicare 
would pay for a surgery, say, like ulcer surgery, for $28,000 but 
wouldn't pay $500 for the prescription drugs that would have prevented 
the ulcer in the first place. See, medicine had changed with the advent 
of prescription drugs, but Medicare hadn't.
    So I thought it made sense to make Medicare work better, to keep our 
commitment to our seniors. And we passed legislation that modernized 
Medicare, and we are now explaining to people what the modernized system 
means. Nobody is going to say, ``You've got to sign up for this,'' but I 
think we have a duty to say to people, ``Please take a look at it. Take 
a look and see what's available.''
    The first thing that's in the new system I think is important is 
that every senior now entering Medicare is eligible for a ``Welcome to 
Medicare'' physical exam. That wasn't the case prior to the reform. Now 
it is. And that makes a lot of sense, it seems like to me, to say, 
``Here's a physical for you.'' The best way to cure disease is to 
anticipate it and prevent it from happening in the first place, is to be 
able to catch illnesses early through screenings. Part of a modern, 
effective health care says that we'll encourage prevention. Helping to 
prevent disease is going to be a really important part of a modern 
system, whether you're on Medicare or not on Medicare; whether you're a 
guy like me, or whether you're a person who's eligible for Medicare.
    There is a new prescription drug coverage in Medicare. And that's 
important for people to understand. The prescription drug coverage, 
first of all, helps all seniors pay for prescription drugs, no matter 
how they've paid before. In other words, everybody should take a look at 
the prescription drug coverage.
    Secondly, what's interesting about the new program is, it provides 
choices for seniors. You know, I knew that when we put--laid out the 
idea of giving seniors choices, it would create a little confusion for 
some. I mean, after all, up to now there hadn't been much--many choices 
in the system. And all of a sudden, a senior who feels pretty good about 
things says, ``Here's old George W. or Mike Leavitt or Jeb or somebody 
say, `Take a look.' '' And all of a sudden, 40 choices pop up.
    The reason why we felt it was necessary to provide choices is 
because we want the system to meet the needs of the consumer. The more 
choices you have, the more likely it is you'll be able to find a program 
that suits your specific needs. In other words, one size fits all is not 
a consumer-friendly program. And I believe in consumers. I believe in 
trusting people. I did know that there would be some worries about 
having to choose from 40 different plans, but I thought it was worth it 
because I know that 40 different plans here in Florida will mean that 
each individual can tailor a plan to meet his or her needs. And I 
thought that was important.
    So how do we handle the 40 different programs? Well, we encouraged 
all kinds of people to help--AARP is helping; NAACP is helping; sons and 
daughters are helping; faith-based programs are helping people sort 
through the programs to design a program that meets their needs. I 
readily concede some seniors have said, ``There are so many choices, I 
don't think I want to participate.'' My advice is, there is plenty of 
help for you.
    Thirdly, seniors with the highest drug costs are going to get extra 
help in this modernized Medicare. We have catastrophic protection for 
the first time. And that's important. Drug costs over $3,600 a year will 
be--any costs over that will be picked up by 95 percent

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for the Federal Government. It's called catastrophic care. Part of the 
reason you modernize medicine this way is to give people peace of mind. 
You know that if you sign up for the program and something goes terribly 
wrong and your prescription drug bills skyrocket, the Government is 
there to help, after $3,600. And that's important for families and its 
important for our seniors, to have that notion that there's stopgap 
insurance, that there's help beyond a certain level of costs.
    And third--and fourthly, there's extra help for low-income seniors. 
If you qualify as a low-income senior--this is about a third of our 
seniors here in America--the prescription drug coverage includes little 
or no premiums, low deductibles, no gaps in insurance. On average, the 
Government will pay more than 95 percent of the cost for prescription 
drugs for low-income seniors.
    It's really important for people to take a look and see whether or 
not there's a program that meets your needs. A lot of people are signing 
up. There's about 42 million folks eligible for Medicare in the United 
States, a little more than that. More than 31 million thus far have 
signed up. That's a lot. In other words, since January, people have 
said, ``I think I'm going to take a look and get involved in this new 
program.''
    There's 6 million more who have an alternative source of coverage. 
In other words, they're plenty happy with the plans they have. And this 
program--by the way, nobody forces anybody to do anything. You know, 
this is our country; you're free to choose. So there's 37 million of the 
little more than 42 million people that have got coverage, and we're 
working hard to sign up the remaining eligible seniors. And they're 
signing up--a lot of people signing up, as we head toward a May 15th 
deadline.
    I want to make this very clear. If you are eligible for extra help, 
if you're a low-income senior, the May 15th deadline does not apply to 
you. In other words, you can apply after May 15th without penalty. And 
that's important for low-income seniors to understand. We want everybody 
to sign up. We want people to understand that there are really good 
benefits for--the average senior is going to save one-half on his or her 
cost--one-half on the cost of prescription drugs.
    We were meeting, as I said, in south Florida earlier, and some of 
the stories down there for people who signed up were really strong 
stories--people saving money, people got a little extra money in their 
pocket. The system is modernized, and it saves you money. And that's 
what we want. Now, some say, ``It's too good to be true.'' If you 
haven't looked at the program, take a look. Take a look. I think you're 
going to find what I said is true.
    The other interesting thing that's happened is--just so the people 
out there who are wondering whether or not this is cost-effective, 
whether or not this makes sense to do--first of all, I think it makes a 
lot of sense to do. We don't want seniors choosing between food and 
medicine. We're a compassionate society. Secondly, because there's 
competition for you--in other words, somebody said, here's some 
different options for you, the average premium seniors pay for the 
prescription drug benefit is $25 a month on average. And that's down 
from an anticipated cost of $37 a month. In other words, when somebody 
bids for your business, it tends to be--it helps on price.
    In Florida, the lowest cost option is about $10 a month. There are 
many zero-dollar premium Medicare advantage plans available for our 
seniors to choose from. The program is saving seniors a lot of money. 
And as a result of people competing for your business, it's saving the 
taxpayers money. In other words, people said, ``Well, it's going to cost 
X.'' Well, it's costing 20 percent less. This is a good deal for 
America's seniors.
    And so over the next week, Secretary Leavitt and myself and others 
in the administration are reminding people that there's a good 
opportunity for you. And so I would suggest, if you haven't signed up 
yet, if you're living in Florida and watching this TV program--or 
anywhere in the country watching the TV program, I'd call 1-800-
MEDICARE, and there's somebody there who'll help you. Or if you've got 
some--if you're computer-literate or have a friend who's computer-
literate, get on the web page, medicare.gov, and take a look--take a 
look at what's available. Seniors all across the

[[Page 892]]

country are saving money because of this plan. It's--if you're a son or 
a daughter, and your mom or dad is eligible for Medicare, and he or she 
hasn't signed up, I believe the son or a daughter has a duty to help the 
mom or dad understand what's available. That's what sons and daughters 
are supposed to do. That's called love. And a loving son or daughter 
should take a look and help their folks realize what's possible, help 
design a drug benefit program that meets your mom or dad's needs.
    Churches all across the country are reaching out--synagogues, people 
from different faiths understand that it makes sense to help their 
parishioners realize the benefits of this plan. I mentioned earlier 
AARP, NAACP, groups all across the country are out trying to find the 
folks who haven't signed up yet and encourage them to do so. And so 
that's why I'm here. I'm here doing my duty as educator in chief. 
[Laughter] It's to say to people from around this part of the world and 
those who may be watching over the airwaves, this is a good deal for the 
American seniors. And it's the right thing to do for the Government. If 
the Government makes a promise, we want to make sure that promise lives 
up to what we've told you. We've said, we're going to get you a modern 
health care system, and we have.
    And that's what I've come to talk about. I'll be glad to answer any 
questions anybody has on any subject that may be on your mind. But in 
the meantime, thanks for letting me come by, and God bless.
    All righty--[applause]--no, no--thank you. I'll be over--we'll get a 
little picture-taking in a minute. Yes, sir.

Availability of Literature on Medicare Benefits

    Q. I find there's a dearth of literature about the new program. I 
just don't see any pamphlets or books around, which there should be.
    The President. True.
    Q. Secondly, I want to ask, if you do sign up, and I don't know what 
it's all about-- I'm, truthfully, computer fearful and so I'm not--I'm 
computer-illiterate. And I'd like to know, when--if I do sign up, can I 
quit, can I get out of it?
    The President. Yes, you can. [Laughter] I think if you sign--first 
of all, that's a great question. Literature--there's all kind of 
literature. I can't answer the question as to why----
    Q. I haven't seen it.
    The President. No, I know, there's not any--you haven't seen it yet, 
I know. But I will try to find out why you haven't seen any here. 
Secondly, you're not alone when it comes to saying, ``I'm a little 
frightened about getting on the computer.'' You're not the only person 
I've heard say that. And therefore, one of the things that centers such 
as this do is provide help with people who are computer-illiterate. And 
it's--with somebody explaining how it works and what you're watching, I 
think you'll find it to be a lot less intimidating than you think.
    And thirdly, I wouldn't sign up, if I were you, unless you were 
comfortable that it saves you money. This is an add-on to Medicare. It 
is a part of Medicare. It's called Medicare Part D. In other words, the 
rest of Medicare exists, but what this does is, it provides an 
additional benefit. And as I said, across the country, people are saving 
half on their prescription drug bills. People say to me, ``Well, I'm 
feeling pretty healthy, and I'm not taking a lot of prescription drugs, 
I'm not going to sign up.'' My advice is, sign up, because you don't 
know when you're going to have to start taking prescription drugs.
    But at the very minimum, take a look. You seem like an inquisitive 
person, somebody who wants to know the facts, and there should be people 
here at this center that will help you find the facts out front. And 
there's going to be some literature, I hope--there is? Brother said 
there's literature. Now, there had better be literature, because the 
man--[laughter]--the man in the hat is going to walk out there, and if 
he doesn't see any literature, I'm cooked. [Laughter] Good looking hat 
too.
    Yes, sir. Thank you for your question.

Iran

    Q. Mr. President, my question concerns the Iranian situation.
    The President. Yes.

[[Page 893]]

    Q. I'm very worried about it, and I don't think I'm alone. I know 
that you and Secretary Rice and Ambassador Bolten are doing everything 
humanly possible to unite the global community in persuading the 
Iranians that getting the bomb is not in their own interest. And even if 
you get the Chinese and the Russians to come around eventually on 
meaningful sanctions, my fear is it's liable to take so long it will be 
too little and too late. So I assume there's a good possibility, given 
their attitude, they're going to get the bomb. And my question is, if 
they do, what next?
    The President. Yes. First of all, it's a great question because he 
is bringing to the front here a question of international significance. 
Our objective is not to let them get the bomb, first of all. And I am an 
optimistic person and, therefore, believe--I'm going to rephrase your 
question a different way: How are you going to stop them from getting it 
in the first place--not what are you going to do if they get one.
    And the first goal--first of all, all options--the first option and 
the most important option is diplomacy. As you know, I've made the tough 
decision to commit American troops into harm's way. It's the toughest 
decision a President can ever make, but I want you to know that I tried 
diplomacy. In other words, a President has got to be able to say to the 
American people, diplomacy didn't work. And therefore, the first choice 
and a choice that I think will work with the Iranians, is diplomacy. And 
I believe we can accomplish this through diplomacy.
    Any diplomatic effort must have a common goal, and the common goal 
here is precisely what you said, sir, which is the Iranians should not 
have a nuclear weapon or the capacity to make a nuclear weapon.
    Now, that wasn't always the case during my Presidency. In other 
words, people have come together around that goal. And the countries 
that have come around that goal are not only our allies in Europe but 
China and Russia agree. So the first step toward good diplomacy is to 
have different countries agree to a common goal, which is that the 
Iranians should not have the capacity and/or a nuclear weapon. So that's 
positive.
    Secondly, we're now working on the tactics as to how to convince the 
Iranians through--to get rid of their ambitions through a united front. 
And so what you're watching play out--by the way, because we live in a 
transparent society, everything, of course, is in the newspapers--which 
is fine; that's healthy. But that's not the case when you're dealing 
with a nontransparent society.
    And so we got six countries--Condi was up there dealing with them 
last night, sitting around the table saying, how are we going to achieve 
our common goal? So what you're watching is, of course, all the guessing 
and speculating about the different positions of the six countries 
sitting around the table. But I believe that through hard work, we will 
continue to keep people bound together because there is a common 
interest to prevent the Iranians from getting that weapon. They 
understand--the countries understand the danger inherent with the 
Iranians having a weapon. They understand the consequences of a nuclear 
Iran, particularly when you have a President who's threatening people.
    And so we're at an early stage of diplomacy at this point in time. 
And one of the options, of course, is to go to the United Nations 
Security Council. And once in the United Nations Security Council, we're 
trying to reach--what does the resolution say. My objective--and thank 
you for your kinds words about Condi and myself working hard to keep the 
common front. It's very important for the Iranians to know they will be 
isolated in the world; that the rest of the world, much of the world, 
shares the same demands that those of us who are heading the--involved 
in the negotiations say.
    But you're right, this is a very difficult issue. And we will 
continue to work through diplomatic channels to make it clear that we 
mean what we say. And, obviously, part of making the diplomacy work is, 
what will be the consequences if the Iranians decide maybe not to listen 
to the rational demands of the world. And you mentioned one, economic 
sanctions. But we're--and I'm not going to comment on that, because I 
think it's very important for good negotiators to keep their cards close 
to the vest, and then at the appropriate time, make it clear what our 
intentions are.
    This is a serious issue; it's taking a lot of our time, as it 
should. Ultimately, of course,

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I would hope that an American President is able to say to the Iranian 
people, ``You're free, and we look forward to having good relations with 
you.'' Liberty has got an amazing way of changing the world. I speak to 
a group of people who know that better than most. You have seen liberty 
transform the world during your lifetime. You've seen--and one of my 
favorite ways of explaining the effects of liberty and my belief in what 
liberty can do is to explain the relationship I have with the Japanese 
Prime Minister.
    I bet I've got some World War II vets here. I'll bet there's some 
people who know World War II vets, who are here. I bet people are here 
who know somebody who was called into action to fight the Japanese in 
World War II. And today I can--I report to you that the Japanese Prime 
Minister is my friend in keeping the peace. And there's a reason why--is 
because after World War II, one of my predecessors, Harry S. Truman, had 
the belief that the United States should help that country, our enemy, 
become a democracy, not styled--an American-style democracy but a 
Japanese-style democracy. And because of the faith in the capacity to 
freedom to change people's way of thinking, because he felt strong to 
that conviction, today a Japanese-style democracy is a friend of 
America.
    Freedom has the capacity to change enemies into friends. And so in 
the long run, the best way to deal with problems such as the Iranian 
problem is to encourage people to be free. And the fundamental question 
is, do people want to be free? And the cornerstone of my foreign policy 
is my strong belief that freedom is universal. People desire to be free.
    One of the lessons that your generation has taught our generation is 
that staying strong to the values that America subscribes to--human 
rights, human dignity, the universality of freedom--has changed parts of 
the world in incredible ways. Just look at Europe--this is a long 
answer--[laughter]--to an important question. And the reason I'm framing 
it this way is, I want you to understand how I think about laying the 
foundation of peace so we can deal with not only the issue that you 
asked about, sir, but other issues that will inevitably come up during 
the course of the 21st century.
    But freedom has the capacity to lay the foundations for peace, and 
we must not lose sight of the historical examples. Take Europe, for 
example--there was two major conflicts in Europe, World War I and World 
War II. Today, Europe is whole, free, and at peace because democracies 
don't war. It's one of the historical lessons.
    And so in the short term, on the issue you described, we will keep 
our diplomacy going. We'll be knitted up as best as we possibly can with 
different--with as many nations as possible--six of them at the table 
last night in New York, by the way. And in the meantime, it is--we will 
continue to advance the freedom agenda.
    Good question. Yes, sir.

Health Care Reform

    Q. Thank you. First, let me say, I think a lot of people will be 
helped by this program.
    The President. They will----
    Q. A lot of people will be helped by the Medicare Part D program.
    The President. Oh, thank you.
    Q. But I think there's major deficiencies in it that I think we'd 
like to hear some comments from you on. The first major issue, I think 
the program is going to be a lot more expensive both to the user and to 
the taxpayer than it needs to be, because we don't allow Medicare to 
negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies. This could wind up 
costing the taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 
years.
    Another thing, the insurance companies are allowed to change their 
formulary once a person is in the program; a person is not allowed to 
get out until the end of the year. This is a legalized bate-and-switch 
operation by the insurance companies. How many of them are doing it, I 
don't know, but it's a danger for our seniors.
    Third, I have a report here from Families USA indicating that the 
poorest people that are affected by this program are not being helped.
    The President. Well, I just----
    Q. Not helped--either they're not signed up, they're not being 
helped compared to the benefits they were getting under a combination of 
Medicare and Medicaid.

[[Page 895]]

    So, finally, I think there are several major changes that should be 
made in the program. Number one, let Medicare negotiate with the 
pharmaceutical companies. Number two, stop the formulary switch. If we 
do that, by reducing the costs, I think we can possibly reduce the size 
or even eliminate the doughnut hole that people are exposed to.
    The President. Okay, thanks.
    Q. And I think--[laughter]. One last thing--okay. If we don't bring 
our costs down this way, we're never going to control health care costs 
in the U.S. And we're subsidizing the pharmaceutical companies, and 
we're subsidizing health costs in every other country around the world 
because every other country negotiates directly with the pharmaceutical 
companies.
    The President. Yes, I'll be glad to give you some comments. First of 
all, if a senior takes a look at the program and doesn't think it saves 
his or her money, they shouldn't sign up.
    Secondly, in terms of the low-income seniors, I don't know what the 
report is that you cite--people cite reports all the time. I will tell 
you this, that a lot of people are working hard to find the low-income 
seniors, to give them the chance to sign up for an incredibly beneficial 
program--including AARP, the NAACP, as I mentioned. I've met with their 
representatives. They realize this is a good deal for low-income 
seniors. But if you're premise is right that the low-income senior won't 
benefit from the program, they shouldn't sign up to it. I just strongly 
disagree that this isn't good for low-income seniors.
    Thirdly, one of the reasons why--we're trying to make individual 
choice available for seniors, as opposed to having the Federal 
Government making the decisions on behalf of seniors. And so the idea of 
having the Federal Government negotiate price keeps the Federal 
Government squarely in the middle of the program. There's a 
philosophical difference, evidently, between me and you. All I can tell 
you is, is that the program is costing less than anticipated, and this 
program is going to benefit a lot of seniors because there is more 
choice for seniors.
    Now, the idea of--this won't help us control health care costs, one, 
I disagree with that. I think more choices for consumers, the better off 
we are. Secondly, health care costs are on the rise. A lot of it has to 
do with these lawsuits that are driving good doctors out of practice, 
that are causing people to practice defensive medicine, and running up 
the premiums for consumers. We need to modernize health care as well, by 
introducing information technology so that, kind of, the system of 
writing files by hand, which leads to errors and inefficiency, is 
replaced by a modern system of information technology. Thirdly, we need 
transparency in pricing. People need to know that which they're 
purchasing and the quality of that which they purchase so that consumers 
are able to make more rational decisions.
    Fourthly, at the center of the health care needs to be the doctor-
patient relationship--not bureaucracy, either government or private 
bureaucracy. And that's why I'm such a strong believer in health savings 
account, which are now being--now available for a lot of folks in 
America.
    So I think you and I may have a different vision of health care. I 
thank you for bringing it up, but, look, if people don't like it, they 
don't have to sign up for it. People have got the right to pick what 
they want to pick. And therefore, I know you would agree with me in 
saying that seniors ought to take a look and see whether or not it meets 
their needs.
    Thank you, sir, very much. I appreciate that.
    Yes, ma'am.

Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit May 15th Deadline

    Q. Mr. President--[inaudible]--to live in this country, and I'm very 
proud of it.
    The President. Good. Where were you from initially?
    Q. East Germany.
    The President. Very good.
    Q. I've been through a lot, and I appreciate this country. And also 
I just signed up--I belong to AARP supplement, and I just signed up for 
Medicare Complete Choice Rx United Healthcare with zero monthly premium, 
and I'm saving 140 some dollars a month.
    The President. Good.
    Q. Thank you.

[[Page 896]]

    The President. How long have you been in the country?
    Q. I've been in this country longer than I lived in Germany because 
I was in East Germany, and we had a lot of problems. You couldn't speak 
up for anything. My brother was arrested. My sister almost was, for 
saying something. So I got out pretending I'm performing at the opera 
house in Nuremberg, and I broke my contract interest, and I stayed in 
West Germany. And I've been here since 1959. And I'm an American 
citizen. I'm very proud of it.
    The President. Great. Welcome.
    Q. Thank you.
    The President. Yes, ma'am. By the way, I met with Chancellor Angela 
Merkel the other day, and she was--she, too, was raised in East Germany. 
It's interesting to be dealing with a world leader who was raised in a 
Communist country. She brings an interesting perspective to the idea of 
people being free. I mean, she understands freedom as well as anybody 
understands freedom. And she's going to be a--she's a good ally and a 
good person. When I see her, I'll tell her I saw you. [Laughter]
    Q. Welcome, Mr. President. Thank you for coming here. One of my 
questions is, May 15th, I believe, is the sign-up date.
    The President. Yes.
    Q. If people cannot make a decision by May 15th, will they be 
penalized, or will there be another time period where they can sign up?
    The President. It depends upon whether you're a--eligible for extra 
benefits, a low-income senior or not. If you're a low-income senior, 
there will be no penalties. If you're not a low-income senior, sign up 
before May 15th.
    Q. Oh, okay. So then there will be--there will not be another sign-
up date?
    The President. You can continue to sign up, but there won't be sign-
up at the same rates at which you could--the same rates at which you'll 
get your prescription drug benefits prior to May 15th. Deadlines are 
important. Deadlines help people understand there's finality, and people 
need to get after it, you know? And so the idea is, there's the 
deadline. Now, low-income seniors, as I mentioned to you, will be able 
to sign up after May 15th without penalty.
    Let's see--yes, ma'am.
    Q. I appreciate everything you've said. I think you're great.
    The President. Thank you. Well, we'll leave it at that. [Laughter]
    Q. No, I'm just like your mother. I do want to suggest, this is a 
community. Our motto is ``Neighbors Helping Neighbors.'' We're 
volunteers. There are many, many seniors here who need help. We 
procrastinated and finally made the decision to sign up through AARP, 
because you can always change. And if they start increasing costs, we'll 
change to another one. You can have influence on people you buy from 
more than if the Government is handling it. And so I appreciate your 
approach.
    However, I would beg, not for myself--because there were logjams, 
they were shuffling the phone calls directly to Medicare. I got an ID 
number; my husband got, in the afternoon, a confirmation number. No one 
knows whether they're actually recorded. The Internet was so bogged 
down, you couldn't get information, because everyone is doing it at the 
last minute. Now, when we pay our taxes, there's a deadline. But we can 
apply for a 6-months' reprieve. I think--[laughter]----
    The President. I think I know where you're headed. [Laughter]
    Q. All right, I don't have to continue it. We could go out and help 
our neighbors. There's a Medicare bus--we just found out this week--
going to a Catholic church in Tampa to help people sign up. There's a 
Medicare bus going to a hospital in Sarasota, but we didn't think about 
getting one to come here for our people, and we need some time to give 
them some help. Thank you.
    The President. Yes, I appreciate that, thanks. In other words, what 
you're saying is, there's a lot of people beginning to come in at the 
last minute, and you're afraid they're not going to be able to access 
the system and/or have their numbers and names filed properly before May 
15th. I'll check with the local people to make sure that--see what the 
strategy is in dealing with that.
    Yes, ma'am. There you go.

[[Page 897]]

Medicare Benefits for Individuals With Disabilities

    Q. Is this the same Medicare plan----
    The President. You're doing fine, just keep cranking it up.
    Q. Is this the same Medicare plan for people that are on 
disabilities?
    The President. Disabilities, yes. It applies to people with 
disabilities as well.
    Q. So if you're under 65--then I would have to still go and apply 
under this?
    The President. For the additional help, yes, ma'am.
    Q. For additional help on this. And also, I just want to say, thank 
you very much for the way that you run the Government with the beliefs 
of--your Christian beliefs and not letting others bring you down when 
you're standing behind on your beliefs. It's very important. All the 
Christians stand behind you.
    The President. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Trade/Energy

    Q. ----be able to tell you from the same point of view that I'm very 
concerned about the growing fields, the products that are now being sent 
and brought back from other countries, that we've eroded our own 
economics in America, that we're too trusting of other countries, 
instead of being able to build up from within. And it's a very great 
concern, because we live in this area--being Ruskin--a tomato growing 
area for the State of Florida--going into other countries, other States 
than Florida. We've lost our fields. We're losing the orange groves. 
We're losing so much that this whole country was built on, and we're now 
relying on beef from Australia. We're relying on produce from South 
America. We're now looking at China to come in and supplement Hewlett 
Packard and all these other companies that have now said, ``We can't 
afford to keep the Americans employed.'' This is a very big concern for 
me, at my age, let alone for the kids who are coming up behind me.
    The President. You know, it's an interesting--that's a very 
interesting question. She--or statement--there's a lot of people that 
are concerned about a global world in which there is fierce competition. 
My attitude about this is that I don't think we ought to fear the 
competition; I think competition is good and healthy. But I think we 
ought to be smart about how we deal with it. In other words, one of the 
options to deal with that global fear is to wall ourselves off; is to 
say, we're not going to accept products; is to go through protectionism; 
is to say, we'll put high tariffs on products because we don't want 
other people selling their product in the American market. That's one 
way to deal with your concern. And it's--I, frankly, think that would 
lead to economic problems for the country.
    I am, as you know, a person who believes in free trade. I also 
believe in making sure companies treat us fairly--in other words, so 
that we can compete on a level playing field. And so here's some ideas 
as to how to deal with it. And by the way, yours is not an isolated 
concern. It's a legitimate question for policymakers--is, how do you 
deal--how can you assure us that we can continue to be the economic 
leader of the world with such competition?
    Wait, let me finish. Let me finish my answer. And here's some 
practical things to do. One, make sure our children have got the job 
skills necessary--the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st 
century. One of the things that Brother Jeb has done is he's brought 
strong accountability in the public schools to make sure that there's 
high standards and people are measured. And when we find failure, you do 
something about it, so that we're just not shuffling kids through the 
system.
    And I want to extend those high standards and extra help for Title I 
students who may not be measuring up to standards in math and science. 
Because I'm going to tell you what's going to happen in a global world, 
that if we do not educate our children with the skills necessary to fill 
the jobs of the 21st century--math, science, engineering--jobs that will 
help lead this country forward--if we don't do that, the jobs are going 
to go to other countries. The good, high-paying jobs are going to go to 
other parts of the world.
    So step one is education. Step two is to make sure we're always the 
leader in innovation and research and development. And the way to do 
that is to spend Federal money, which we're going to do, in the basic

[[Page 898]]

sciences, as well as make sure the research and development tax credit 
which encourages the private sector to invest in research and 
technology, make sure that's a permanent part of the Tax Code. In other 
words, make sure America is the leader in innovation. If we're not the 
leader in innovation, other countries will be the leader of innovation. 
So there's competition. We can try to wall ourselves off, but it will 
still be a competitive world.
    Thirdly, we got to do something about energy. The gas prices, as you 
know, are affecting you; they're high. Part of the reason why they're 
high is because the price of crude oil is high, and part of the reason 
the price of crude oil is high is because the demand for crude oil has 
been outstripping supply. And I'm not sure supply will ever catch up 
with demand in the short term, so one of the things we need to do is to 
figure out how to drive our cars differently--different fuels like 
ethanol grown right here in--the core product of which can be grown 
right here in Florida.
    Hybrid automobiles is the second. And we've got incentives in 
Federal law that provides incentives for people to buy hybrids. Hybrids 
mean you're running on a combination of electricity and gasoline. And 
I'll tell you an interesting breakthrough that's about to come, though, 
because of research as a result of the Federal Government and private 
sector, is that we're going to have batteries that will be able to last 
for the first 40 miles when somebody drives. That's good for urban 
America, for example. A lot of people don't drive 40 miles in a day. It 
would be pretty good if they could drive those first 40 without using 
gasoline.
    We got to be wise about our energy policy. I happen to believe in 
nuclear power. I believe in nuclear power--I know nuclear power is 
renewable, and it protects the environment. We got to make sure we 
continue to develop technologies that allow us to burn coal in 
environmentally friendly ways. Solar technology is becoming more 
advanced, and the Government is helping with the research there.
    My point to you is that on the energy front, we've got to be wise if 
we're going to compete. We got to do something about junk lawsuits that 
are making it hard here in America not only for the medical profession 
but for the business sector, if we want to compete. We got to keep taxes 
low if we want to compete. If we want to compete in the future, we got 
to do something about Social Security. Social Security is fine for you. 
You all are in good shape. It's fine for my generation, but it's not so 
fine for the people who are going to be trying to pay for my generation. 
And it's time to put aside all that business--the political business in 
Washington, DC--and come up with a solution so younger generations of 
Americans--[applause]. My answer to the country is: We shouldn't fear 
the future; we ought to shape it.
    And the alternative is to shut ourselves off, and I think that would 
be a huge mistake. It's really interesting when you look at the 1920s. 
During that period of time, the American people became isolated with 
high protective tariffs, and it eventually was part of the reasons why 
we had a Great Depression. And I think we always must be mindful of the 
lessons of history.
    Anyway, excellent question. Thanks for giving me a chance--you're 
not through yet, I take it. [Laughter] You want to debate?

Alternative Fuel Sources/Energy

    Q. Forty years ago----
    The President. Go ahead.
    Q. Forty years ago, we had the red flag flying about the oil 
shortage. We were all told, let's do something. That was 40 years ago. 
Solar power was supposed to be the future for us. The Government was 
participating and literally supplying people with the money to put solar 
power into their homes. It all stopped. Why don't we continue to look at 
these resources instead of now stopping people because they can't get to 
their jobs----
    The President. No, no, say that again, look at what now?
    Q. Why don't we continue to look at these sources of solar power----
    The President. We are.
    Q. ----these houses around here, literally, if you put up a solar 
power panel, somebody is coming up to say, ``Hey, wait a minute, it's 
not okay.'' Down in Fort Myers, they did it 20 years ago, so it has been 
accepted, and

[[Page 899]]

it's fine. But 40 years ago, we had these red flags flying----
    The President. Yes.
    Q. ----why did we waste 40 years? Now we're scared.
    The President. No, I appreciate--I actually am not--I don't think 
``scared'' is the right word to describe how I feel. I feel that we need 
to rise to the challenge. I'll remind you, in 2001 the price of crude 
oil was like $17 a barrel, is one reason why. In other words, it--the 
low price of crude oil kind of lulled people into a sense that maybe 
things we're going to--the supply would be greater than demand. But it 
also made it more difficult for alternatives to compete. And I'm not 
sure what you mean, people aren't encouraged to put up solar panels. I 
think people can put up solar panels if they want to. But the 
interesting thing about--and we're spending research money on advanced 
solar technology. In other words, there's not going to be ``a'' answer 
for diversifying away from foreign sources of oil. There's going to be a 
series of answers on a series of fronts, that will enable this country 
to diversify away from oil, and we need to. I completely agree we need 
to. And the question is, are we spending money at the Federal level to 
do so? And the answer is, absolutely. Since I've been President, we've 
spent about $10 billion on ways to help us diversify away from oil, 
through research and development.
    Yes, sir.

Hurricanes

    Q. We put out a patent to control hurricanes, and we sent it to--
[laughter]--Senator Burr, and he thought it was great, and he----
    The President. Give him a mic that works, please. [Laughter]
    Q. We sent it to Senator Burr, and he thought it was great, and he 
gave it, I understand, to Karl Rove.
    The President. What now? I missed your question, sir.
    Q. A patent to control hurricanes.
    The President. To control hurricanes?
    Q. Right.
    The President. Where were you last year? [Laughter]
    Q. I'm here this year, okay. And Senator Burr thought it was good 
enough, from North Carolina, and he gave it--I understand it was given 
to Karl Rove, okay. We want--we tried to get in touch with you, and we 
hope you get the description of this patent, because we feel sure it's 
the one thing that can stop hurricanes when they're young and 
vulnerable, okay. We can get at them, and we're using the coldest thing 
in the universe to do it. And planes--it's all planned on just how to do 
it, from MacDill or anywhere. And so we hope you get to read this. I 
gave it to a guy named Ryan here, that's an associate of yours, and I 
hope he gives it to you.
    The President. Okay, good. What's his name?
    Q. My name is Luther Hoffman. We sent you a letter, but I guess it 
may not have gotten through.
    The President. Well, you know--[laughter].
    Yes, sir.

Gasoline

    Q. Yes, sir, can you hear me okay?
    The President. Yes, sir.
    Q. You mentioned gas prices, and I think everybody understands that 
this is being driven by economic imperatives. What I don't understand--
what seems to violate common sense--is why the oil companies are also 
reporting record profits. It doesn't seem like people should get rich on 
somebody else's misery.
    The President. Well, my attitude is, is that I believe in the 
markets; I believe in private enterprise; but I also believe people 
ought to reinvest. You know, we haven't built a refinery in this country 
since the early 1970s, not one refinery. And guess what--when you have 
shortage of supply and demand stays strong, price goes up. So part of 
the reasons why we've got high gasoline prices is because the price of 
crude oil has gone up.
    Part of it also is because we're not increasing the supplies of 
gasoline for the consumers. And so my call to the energy companies is: 
Reinvest in America; expand refinery capacity; build new ones. Part of 
the problem, though, is our own fault. We've got a lot of rules and 
regulations that prevent there

[[Page 900]]

to be--that stop people from investing capital in refinery expansion. So 
one of the things I'm working with Congress is to relax these 
regulations.
    I mean, if we've got a problem, let's address it square on and 
figure out where the problem is. And there is a bottleneck when it comes 
to this paperwork. And we've got to be less regulatory in America to 
increase the supply of gasoline for our people.
    We've got another problem, in that in a lot of States they require 
different kind of fuel blends, which means that it's hard. When you have 
to change your gasoline supply on a seasonal basis to have specialized 
blends, it causes supply disruptions. And disruption in supply causes 
prices to go up.
    And so I don't believe the Federal Government ought to be taking 
over businesses; I don't believe that. But I do believe that the Federal 
Government ought to be encouraging people to spend profits here in 
America, to build pipeline and expand capacity for the sake of 
consumers.
    Yes, ma'am. We're kind of running out of air time, here, because 
I've got to go to Orlando. Brother, you need to get back to work. 
They're paying you a lot of money, and you're just sitting there. 
[Laughter]

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge/Oil

    Q. First of all, Mr. President, I want you to know that you are in 
our prayers on a daily basis.
    The President. Thank you.
    Q. We pray for you and your Cabinet. Secondly of all, I would like 
to ask one question about the Alaskan pipeline. My understanding is that 
most of that supply does not come to the United States, and I would like 
to know why that goes to other countries rather than to where it's 
needed here, so that we can----
    The President. You mean the crude oil coming down the pipeline?
    Q. Yes, sir.
    The President. I don't know where it goes, to be honest with you. 
Sorry. I can find out. [Laughter]
    Q. Okay. Could we just divert a little bit of that our direction, 
please? [Laughter]
    The President. I thought you were going to ask, how come we don't 
have the gas pipeline coming down yet, because there's a lot of untapped 
oil and gas up there that can be explored in environmentally friendly 
ways. And I think we ought to be drilling in ANWR--it's called ANWR. I 
know we can do it and protect the environment at the same time. And I 
know there's a lot of untapped gas up there that we ought to get down 
through pipeline as well. I don't know where all the oil goes coming out 
of the pipeline now. I'll try to find out for you.
    Okay, final question. Yes, sir.

Social Security Reform

    Q. Morning, Mr. President.
    The President. How are you?
    Q. I'm a retired New York City fireman.
    The President. Yes, sir.
    Q. I appreciate the love and affection that you showed New York City 
after 9/11 on behalf of all them people that passed away at that time--
--
    The President. Yes, thanks.
    Q. ----and the 343 firemen, my brother firemen that died there that 
day. I think you're doing a fantastic job, and we'll always love and 
respect you.
    You said before you'd like a solution for Social Security. I have it 
right here in my hand, Mr. President.
    The President. I'll meet you right there at the corner, and you can 
hand it to me.
    Q. I'd love to. [Laughter]
    The President. The hurricane guy can show up here with his answer 
too. [Laughter]
    Q. I wrote a solution to the Social Security reform a year ago. I 
sent it to every Congressmen, every Senator, every newscaster, every 
station throughout this country. I sent 794 letters out, and I got about 
5 replies. I think what's happening with Social Security is a disgrace. 
It's not going to affect us, like you say, but it's going to affect us 
because we're the parents of the baby boomers.
    The President. That's right.
    Q. And we're also the grandparents of the boomers' babies. 
[Laughter] And we're worried about them.
    The President. Yes. I tell you what. I'm fixing to thank everybody 
and you stand right there.
    Q. Thank you, Mr. President.

[[Page 901]]

    The President. And I'm--I tell you what I'm----
    Q. Please give me two minutes with this letter.
    The President. I'm going to get the photographer to take a picture 
of you handing me that letter.
    Q. Thank you, sir.
    The President. And that way I'll remember who you were when you 
handed it to me. [Laughter]
    Q. I'll always remember you, Mr. President.
    The President. Thanks for being a firefighter. God bless, everybody. 
Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:09 a.m. at the Kings Point Clubhouse. In 
his remarks, he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, and his wife, 
Columba; President Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica; Prime Minister 
Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. The 
Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of these remarks.