THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thanks for coming. Sientese,
por favor. Muchas gracias. I'm honored to be here. Thank you for
letting me come by to talk about a subject that is, I know, important
to many, and that is the opportunities and the chances of modernizing
Medicare. I am really glad to have the invitation to come to the
Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Centers. After all, it gives me
a chance to check up on the el gubernador. (Laughter.) Mi hermanito.
(Applause.) Mi grande hermanito. (Laughter.)
I'm really proud of Jeb. He's -- as you know, we've got a very
close family, and any chance we have to get together to visit and
compare notes about the latest thing Mother has told us to do, it gives
us -- it a great opportunity. So, but thanks for letting me come.
I -- as Tommy mentioned, that we're making historic progress in
Washington. It's really a matter of will. It's a matter of putting
aside politics and focusing on what we're supposed to be focusing on
-- that is the people. And so today I want to spend some time talking
about the historic opportunity we have to modernize Medicare on behalf
of America's seniors.
There's some differences between the two bills. The Senate had one
version, the House of Representatives had another, but there's a lot of
commonality between them. And I'm confident that the members, when
they get back from their 4th of July breaks, will get to work, iron out
the differences in a constructive way and get a good bill to my desk,
so that I can then say, and all of us can say we've done our jobs on
behalf of America's seniors. (Applause.)
Tommy is -- Tommy Thompson has been the point person for the
administration on Capitol Hill, working this issue hard. He has done a
really good job. He was my friend when he was the governor of
Wisconsin. So I saw that he was a good, hard worker, and a productive
person as the governor of Wisconsin. He was a reformer and he was
on the leading edge of change in a lot of areas. And I was really
happy to be able to convince him to serve in the incredibly important
position of Secretary of HHS. And he hasn't let me down, and he's not
letting the American people down, Tommy, and I want to thank you for
your service. (Applause.)
And I'm glad that Josefina came. I understand she used to be the
President and CEO of this -- of the Little Havana Activities and
Nutrition Centers. She is -- (applause) -- she did such a good job
here that we spirited her up to Washington, D.C. to serve our country.
I want to thank Josefina, and I also want to wish her a happy
birthday. (Applause.)
Toni Jennings, the Lieutenant Governor, is with us today, and I'm
honored that the Lieutenant Governor would be here. Thank you, Toni.
(Applause.)
I see that the Diaz-Balart boys are with us today. (Applause.)
Keep your remarks short. (Laughter.) No, I'm looking forward to
visit -- to spend a little quality time with them. They're a good
friend, strong allies. They know what I know, that under the current
leadership in Cuba, there will never be freedom. They know that. And
I know that, as well. (Applause.)
And one thing we believe in in America is freedom for everybody.
We believe freedom is the desire of every human heart. We believe
freedom is the future of every country. We believe in a free Cuba.
(Applause.)
I also want to thank Congressman Mark Foley for joining us today.
Congressman, thank you for being here. I'm honored you're here. I
appreciate your time. (Applause.) Terry White is here, the Secretary
of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. Terry, thank you for
coming. (Applause.) Seor Blanco. Dr. Rhonda Medows is with us
today. I'm honored that the doc is here. (Applause.)
We've got el alcalde de Miami. (Applause.) Thank you, Seor.
Thank you very much, Alex, for coming -- I mean, Manny, for coming.
And Alex Panelas is here, as well, the Mayor of -- donde? Okay.
(Laughter.) At least he got his name mentioned, that's a smart move.
(Applause.) I appreciate Rene Rodriguez, the Director of the
Miami-Dade Housing Authority, for being here. (Applause.) Donde esta
Berta? Berta Ruano -- thank you very much, Berta, for letting us
come. (Applause.)
And finally, when I landed at the airport on Air Force One, I was
honored to walk off, and after I saw brother and others that were
there, I met a lady named Ana Cooper. Ana is right here. Thank you
for coming, Ana. Let me tell you about Ana. (Applause.) Stand up,
please. (Applause.) So you're wondering who Anna is. If you're
wondering who Ana Cooper is, she is a volunteer. She volunteers to
help seniors have a better life. She spends time comforting seniors.
She takes time out of her day to help somebody in need. And that's an
important part of America. It's a really important part of our
system. It's a part of a compassionate tomorrow when a fellow citizen
is willing to dedicate time to help somebody who needs help.
And I want to thank Ana. She's a what I call a USA Freedom Corps
greeter. Everywhere I go in America, I try to recognize an individual
who is serving something greater than themselves in life. If you're
such an individual, I want to thank you for that.
If you're interested in helping, you can get on the Internet and
look up usafreedomcorp.gov. It's an opportunity for young and old
alike to serve your community. The strength of our country is more
than just military might. The strength of our country is the heart and
soul of our fellow citizens, people like Ana who are willing to help
somebody in need. Ana, thank you for the example you set, and I
appreciate you coming. (Applause.)
I mentioned our love for freedom in America. We love it. We love
it for people of Cuba. We love it for the people of Iraq. We love it
for the people of Afghanistan. We also know that a free society is
more likely to be a peaceful society. And so when you hear me talk
about freedom, you must also know that I talk about peace, that our
deep desire in America is for the world to be more free and more
peaceful. And we'll stay the course. (Applause.)
We have made great progress at freeing people from barbaric
regimes, which also means that America is more secure. We will stay on
guard in America because we understand there are still enemies of
freedom, enemies for what we stand for. And I want to thank the local
authorities and the state authorities and our federal authorities, who
are all working closely together to keep the homeland more secure. But
in order to make sure the homeland is more secure we must hunt down
enemies wherever they hide. The best way to make America secure is to
find the enemy before the enemy comes to us. And that's what we will
do. (Applause.)
We must also worry about the economic security of our fellow
citizens. And I want to thank the members of Congress who have worked
closely with the administration to create the environment for
additional job growth. Your Governor and the good people down here
have led the nation in new job creation. And I want to thank the
people of Florida for setting the pace for job recovery. But so long
as anybody is looking for work and who wants to work and can't find a
job, we will worry about it. And we will create the conditions
necessary for economic vitality, including most importantly to make
sure our small businesses are strong and vibrant all across the United
States of America.
And then we're worried in Washington, DC, and we're doing something
about it, about the health security of the American people. And one of
the things we finally recognized in Washington, we recognized it --
actually get something done about it -- is that medicine is becoming
more modern, yet the systems dealing with medicine, like Medicare,
aren't. In other words, there has been great advancement in medicine,
and yet the Medicare system is stuck in the past. And so we decided to
something about it.
We decided to make sure that prescription medicines, which
oftentimes replace surgeries and long hospital stays, become an
integral part of a modern medical system available for our seniors and
everybody else. In other words, that we now focus on prevention as
opposed to reaction as an integral part of a modern medical system.
One of the things that we've got to always worry about and work on
in Washington is to make sure that pharmaceutical drugs are more
affordable and more available. And I took some strong action to help
that be the case by making sure that generic drugs are not delayed in
making it to the marketplace.
In our system today, if a pharmaceutical company invents a new kind
of medicine, they're given patent protection for a period of time. And
that's okay. It makes sense. After all, we want a -- we want new
medicines coming on the market and patents provide incentives for
people to reinvest, and to take research and development risks. But
what we can't afford is to have generic drugs delayed because of
loopholes in the laws and regulations. We cannot allow drug companies
to block generics, which are cheaper at the counter for our citizens
-- less expensive is a better way to put that, still of high quality,
but of less expense -- because of arguments over minor features.
In other words, the generic gets ready to come on the market and
the initial company will say, wait a minute, you're -- you've got the
pill bottle -- the color of the pill bottle looks like that you're
infringing on the patent, and delays take place. And we can't allow
these excuse-making delays to take place. So the Federal Drug
Administration has taken strong action, which will get generics quicker
to the markets, which will save our seniors, and all people relying
upon pharmaceutical savings.
We anticipate the savings will be up to $35 billion over a 10-year
period. And that's a good, positive step on behalf of making sure our
drugs are more affordable. (Applause.)
But the other thing we've done is we made sure that Medicare is
heading toward reform. And a reform in Medicare means a couple of
things. It means seniors get to have choices, and all choices will
include prescription drug benefits. The Medicare system of today does
not have prescription drug benefits, as you know. We've got to change
that. If medicine is changing, we want Medicare to change with it, on
behalf of the senior citizens all across the country.
And so, as Tommy mentioned, we've had a debate up in Washington,
and that is how best to provide a modern system to our seniors. One of
the things I reminded people of, and will continue to do so until I get
bill on my desk, that members of the United States Congress and their
staffs get a choice about what kind of plan, health care plan, best
suits their needs. In other words, Congress said, let us have a
consumer-friendly system. A consumer-friendly system is one that says
we trust the consumers to make the best choice. Senior citizens are
consumers, and therefore, the plan ought to match your needs, not the
needs designed by a bureaucrat -- not your needs as decided by a
bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. If choice is good enough for Congress,
it ought to be good enough for the seniors in America, was my point.
(Applause.)
I appreciate these men -- I appreciate their consistency. They
understood that, and that's a vital part of the bill which came out of
the House of Representatives and the Senate. And basically is says
this: It says that if you like your current Medicare system, you like
the way the Medicare system is today, you should have the option of
staying in that system, plus an additional benefit, and that would be
prescription drugs. In other words, if you're happy where you are,
we're going to add a prescription drug benefit.
Now, as well, if you enhanced benefits or -- such as more
coverage for preventive care or other services, you ought to have that
choice, as well. In other words, you take what the government
provides, and if you want to make it better, you ought to have that
choice. Your choice to make. That ought to be available part of the
program. As well, if you like the affordability of managed care plans
-- Medicare plus choice -- if you like that and you're in the plan,
that ought to be a part of your option. In other words, there's three
opportunities. The plans ought to be tailored to your demands.
Low-income seniors will receive extra help. We want to help those
who are -- who need help. So that ought to be a part of our
government policy, so that seniors will have the ability to choose a
Medicare plan which best fits their needs. And all the plans will mean
there is a prescription drug benefit available. So we're modernizing
Medicare. And it's important that we do.
I talked to Myrtle Ball today -- I had the honor of meeting with
some of your fellow citizens prior to coming out here to talk, and I
heard their stories. It's a good opportunity for Jeb and me and Tommy
to listen to what people -- what's on their mind. And pretty much
common story -- Myrtle is diabetic; she takes eight medications. And
those cost her at least $700 a month, which is nearly half her income.
And that bothers her and it worries her. So she's cutting down,
cutting the pills in half in some cases, to try to make those --
stretch those dollars. The bill we passed -- both bills we passed,
and the combined bill we passed Tommy and I concluded will help
somebody like Myrtle, help her meet the needs, so that she doesn't feel
stressed in later years of life.
Teresa Tibble is here, and she takes care of her mom, Betty, at
home. And, Teresa, I want to thank you very much for doing that. She
is a dutiful daughter. Her mom has got Alzheimer's. And Teresa wants
to live with her mom so her mom feels comfortable. I think Jeb and I
were touched by what it means to be sitting at a table with a daughter
who has said, I've got a responsibility to my mom. And I want to
appreciate Teresa for doing that. (Applause.) The extra money that
will come from the benefit that's going to end up in the bill will help
Teresa take care of her mom at home.
I also met the Gensels, they're here, Judy and Jerry. Now, they're
typical of a lot -- because of Jerry's previous job, he had some
benefits, some benefits as a retiree, but in his case they run out in a
couple of years. And so -- from a private-sector plan. So he's
concerned, obviously. When the benefits expire as a result of the
retirement package he had earlier, what's going to happen to Judy and
Jerry? And this bill will help. This bill will make a difference.
In other words, this bill is more important for people to realize,
instead of the rhetoric, that it actually is going to affect people's
lives in a positive way. And here are some people's lives that will be
affected, and I'm sure a lot of your lives will be affected, as well.
We've just got to get the job done now. We've got to make sure that
the bills are reconciled and get them to my desk. And I look forward
to signing a good Medicare bill. (Applause.)
Finally, there's one other issue I want to talk about. I mean, if
we're concerned about health care which is accessible and affordable,
we better be concerned about the number of lawsuits that are taking
place all across America. You see, it's one thing for somebody to be
able to sue a bad doctor -- we're for that. But the problem is,
we've got a lot of lawyers filing suits against any doctor. And let me
tell you the effect of frivolous lawsuits, the effect it's having all
across America.
It means that doctors are practicing what they call preventative
medicine. In other words, if you think somebody's going to sue you, if
you're in a litigious society, then you'll take extra care by
prescribing more and more either procedures, or whatever it may be.
And that runs the cost of medicine up. It makes it more likely you're
bill is going to go up.
And secondly, lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit, that oftentimes
-- that people just settle in order to get it off the docket cause
premiums to go up, which also makes medicine more costly. In a lot of
cases around the country, docs have just had it. They said their
premiums have gone up so high that they can't practice medicine
anymore. So you know what they do? They take the shingle down, which
makes it -- there's less doctors available. We've got a problem.
I met with docs all across our country. The premiums are just
going out of sight because of frivolous lawsuits are running up the
cost of doing business, and it costs you more money. It just does.
And people say, well, you know, that's not a federal issue, it's a
state issue. And I want to applaud my brother, working hard on this
issue. And I hope the legislature responds positively so that people
all across this state are going to have affordable and accessible
health care. But it also runs up the cost of the federal bills.
I mean, if somebody is practicing preventative medicine, it's going
to mean Medicare costs go up. Medicaid costs will go up. Veterans
health benefits go up. I've looked at the cost of all these frivolous
lawsuits to the federal government, and have come to the conclusion we
have a federal problem, as well, which requires a federal solution. In
order to make sure health care is vibrant and viable, we need medical
liability reform all across America, and we need a federal medical
liability reform. (Applause.)
I want to thank you all for -- I want to thank you for giving me
a chance to come by and visit with you. Let me conclude by telling you
something that I know is true. We are fortunate to be Americans. We
live in a great country. We live in a great country that has got the
best health care system in the world, and we need to keep it that way.
We live in a great country because we believe in serving concepts
greater than ourselves. We live in a great country because we believe
in values and ideals from which we will not -- we will not vary. We
believe strongly in freedom. We believe in peace. We believe in human
dignity. We believe in the worth of each individual. We are a great
country, and I'm proud to be the President of this great country.
Thank you all for coming. May God bless. (Applause.)