    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 17 (Monday, April 30, 2007)]
    [Pages 511-512]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Following a Meeting on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefits

    April 23, 2007

        Thank you all for coming. Today I have been discussing the Medicare
    Part D reforms that Congress passed and I signed and that Mike Leavitt
    and a lot of other people helped to implement.
        This reform of Medicare has been a great success. Most importantly,
    it's been a great success for our senior citizens. The cost of the
    prescription drug plan has been less than anticipated. The individual
    stories about people saving money and getting better health care has
    warmed my heart.

        It took a monumental effort by a lot of citizens around the country
    to make the options that our seniors were given easy to understand. In
    other words, we reformed Medicare and gave seniors a lot of choices, and
    it took a lot of loving Americans a lot of time to make these choices
    available for our senior citizens. Now that the plan is in place, 39
    million have signed up for it, drug costs are less than anticipated, and
    the cost to the taxpayer is about $200 billion less than anticipated.

        The lesson is, is that when you trust people to make decisions in
    their lives, when you have competition, it is likely you'll get lower
    price and better quality. It is the spirit of this reform that needs to
    be now extended to Medicare overall.

        The trustees report will be coming out today on Social Security and
    Medicare. It will make clear that senior citizens are in great shape
    when it comes to the government making their promises. It'll make clear
    that baby boomers like me are in good shape, that the government will
    meet its promises. But for a younger generation of Americans, it sends
    yet another warning signal to the United States Congress that now is the
    time to work to make sure the Social Security is solvent for the future,
    as is Medicare.

        And as we begin to think through solutions for Medicare, we ought to
    make sure that we remember the principles inherent in this Medicare
    reform that has worked so well for our seniors--and that principle is,
    competition works. Competition can lower price and improve the quality
    of people who are a beneficiary of such a plan.

        Thank you all very much for coming.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:40 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House.

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