White House Gaggle

By Scott McClellan
10:25 A.M. EST



MR. McCLELLAN: Okay, it's another one of those McClellan brother
briefings. First, let me go through the President's day. The President


had his usual briefing this morning, before we departed.



When we land, because of the weather, we're not going to be
choppering, we're going to be motorcading. And so the first event we're
going to do is go to the school. And the President will participate in
the conversation there. And I'm going to let Mark talk more about that
in a minute. And then following that, we will go to the senior center,
where the President will visit an education and enrollment program that
is going on for -- I think about a dozen seniors will be there.



And then following that, the President is also scheduled to meet,
when we get back to the airport, with some families of fallen soldiers.
I think he's meeting with five families of fallen soldiers. Three of
those made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq.



And then when we get back to the White House this evening, at
approximately 5:50 p.m., the President has got a meeting in the
Roosevelt Room with a broad range of groups that have been helping with
the education and enrollment efforts for seniors. And we can get you
more information on that later.



Q Coverage on that?



MR. McCLELLAN: There's no coverage on that. It's just a --



Q Sorry, the meeting is at 5:50 p.m., or we're back at 5:50
p.m.?



MR. McCLELLAN: We get back at about 5:30 p.m., I think, is when we
get back to the White House.



A couple of things I want to mention before I turn it over to Mark.
First o fall, when we arrive at the airport, one of the greeters that
the President is going to meet is Jason, who friends call him J-Mac,
McElwain, and his parents, and the coach of his high school basketball
team, Greece-Athena High School.



This is really an uplifting and inspirational personal story. I
don't know if you all are familiar with it. This is a senior at the
high school, who is autistic. And he had been a coach's assistant at
the high school for several years, and kind of the spirit leader for the
team. And in the final game, the coach had him suit up with the rest of
the team. And toward the end of the game the coach put him in the game.
And in just over three minutes, I think three minutes and 11 seconds
time, he scored 20 points, including six three pointers. And it's
really drawn a lot of interest, both in the community and nationally.
But it's a story that's brought a lot of pride and joy to the school and
the students, and to the community, as well. So I just wanted to point
that out to you.



Q How many points did he score?



MR. McCLELLAN: Twenty points, six three-pointers.



Then a couple of items I want to bring to your attention, too.
Secretary Snow is giving a speech right now, I think it's the Community
Bankers Association. And in that speech he's going to be talking about
CFIUS reform. As you've heard me say, we support improvements and
reform of the CFIUS process. And today the Secretary is going to lay
out some of the key principles that we believe ought to guide reform.
Secretary Snow is also engaged in ongoing discussions with congressional
leaders about how we can move forward to reform the CFIUS process.
We're looking at both administrative and legislative improvements to the
CFIUS process. So you all will probably be seeing more on that soon.



And then one other item. In the Intelligence Reform Act that was
passed and the President signed into law, it included the creation of
the Presidential Privacy and Civil Liberties Board. This is a board
that was set up to advise the President to make sure the privacy and
civil liberties issues are addressed as we develop counterterrorism
policies. And the Senate recently confirmed the chair and the
vice-chair of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board. They are holding
their first meeting today, and the President looks forward to working
with the board as we move forward, to protect the American people and
safeguard our civil liberties. So I just wanted to bring that item to
your attention.



I think that's all I've got to begin with. Now I want the turn it
over to Mark, and then we'll be here for any questions.



DR. McCLELLAN: The event that the President is participating in
today and the event at the senior center are like thousands of events
taking place all over the country right now, to help seniors find out
about and take advantage of the most important new benefit in Medicare's
40-year history.



The new drug coverage is working now for millions of people of
seniors and people with a disability. More than 26 million people have
coverage, more than a million prescriptions a day are being filled, and
every week hundreds of thousands more people are enrolling in the
program.



As with any program and new benefit this big, there are going to be
some transition issues. Back in January, when the program first started
up, we spent a lot of time going around the country, hearing from
pharmacists and seniors and health plans about what was working and what
needed to be improved. We found problems and fixed them, and at this
point, we're seeing much lower wait times for people who call in with
questions about their coverage; we're seeing much more complete
information in the pharmacy billing systems, and as a result, many, many
more people are using their coverage effectively.



There was a new survey released yesterday that showed seniors
overwhelmingly are having no or little difficulty using their new
coverage for the first time. Once they've used the coverage, or
connected with their drug plan, they're saving typically 50 percent or
much more. Other recent studies have shown that seniors can save even
more by switching to lower-cost generic drugs and other drugs that work
in similar ways. So the savings can be 70 percent or 80 percent or
more.



The reason for the savings is that the drug plans are competing
strongly to attract beneficiaries into their programs. They're doing
that by offering large discounts on a broad range of brand name and
generic drugs. They've negotiated low prices. They're taking steps to
keep costs down, and that's why the cost of this coverage is turning out
to be about 25 percent lower than expected for taxpayers this year, and
more than a third lower for seniors. Average premiums are coming in
around $25 a month, and in New York there are plans available that cost
much less than that.

The Medicare program is also bringing additional health plan
options to seniors. And one of the couples that the President is going
to talk with today are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage health plan.
That's a health plan in Medicare that offers a comprehensive set of
benefits for not just drugs, but all types of medical services. These
Medicare Advantage plans save beneficiaries typically $100 a month. And
so these beneficiaries are paying less in premiums now for coverage that
is comprehensive and includes drugs than they were paying last year for
supplemental coverage without drugs. So it's another example of how the
program is saving people money.



Q How much of the President getting out there, both today, and
then again tomorrow -- he's got another Medicare event, right -- how
much of that is to counter some of the talk from other groups trying to
kind of criticize the program, maybe even suppress support for it? Why
is it necessary to get the President out there right now?



MR. McCLELLAN: First of all, this is a very important program for
our nation's seniors. And we've worked with Congress in a bipartisan
way to modernize Medicare, to make sure that seniors had up to date
benefits, and that they had more choices from which to choose, so that
they could get the health care that best fit their individual needs.
And seniors right now are realizing substantial savings on their
prescription drugs. And so the President is going to continue to
highlight this important program, and talk about the benefits that are
available for seniors to enjoy that haven't yet signed up for the
program.



As Mark talked about, for the vast majority of seniors, this
program is working very well. But you can expect the President will
continue to talk about these important new benefits that seniors now
have, and the significant savings that they're realizing under this
program.



Q But he hasn't had an event or a trip dedicated to Medicare in
quite some time. So why is he doing --



MR. McCLELLAN: We've done a number of events. And as I've said,
the President is going to continue -- this is one of the top priorities
for the President, making sure that Americans have access -- have access
to affordable health care is a top priority. This was one of the most
dramatic improvements we've made in health care in a number of years by
working with Congress. And so the President is going to continue to
highlight it.



DR. McCLELLAN: With any program as large and important as
Medicare, there are going to be politics around it. People have strong
views, and that's okay. What we're focused on is making sure that each
senior can find out what the program means for them. It's not about the
rhetoric, but about the savings and the security that they can
personally get by making a decision about the Medicare drug coverage.
They can do that by calling 1-800-MEDICARE any time with virtually no
waiting, they can do that by going to events like the one that the
President will visit that are happening all over the country, they can
do it by going online to Medicare.gov, or getting help from a family
member. And hundreds of thousands of seniors are doing that every week,
and they're getting larger savings than expected, and the coverage is
working smoothly for the vast majority of them.



Q What are the big trouble spots you see? Is there any group of
seniors who you're having a harder time getting the message through to?



DR. McCLELLAN: Well, we are particularly concerned about
low-income beneficiaries finding out about the extra help that they can
get. The Medicare drug coverage has no premium and will pay typically
95 percent of their drug cost.



Historically, this has been a very challenging population to reach.
For example, the Medicaid program for seniors only has about 60 percent
of eligible people enrolled 40 years after it began. So we're very
pleased that there already are more than a-million-and-a-half low-income
seniors who have signed up for coverage, and a lot of the effort that we
are spending over the coming weeks is devoted to extra direct attempts
to reach them.



Among the people that the President will meet with later this
afternoon, are representatives, leaders from a broad range of advocacy
groups that often have very different political views, but that all have
come together because they know that this is the most important benefit
for low-income seniors in 40 years, and they're helping us get even more
people enrolled.



MR. McCLELLAN: Okay.



Q What is the strategy for you guys to get a strong presidential
statement out of the Security Council, especially given Russia and
China's problems with that?



MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the discussions are ongoing. There are
active discussions that continue in New York with diplomats representing
countries on the Security Council. So we need to let those discussions
continue. But I think all nations understand the importance of
preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. And all nations want
to see the regime in Iran return to a suspension of its enrichment and
reprocessing activities, and see the regime cooperate with the
International Atomic Energy Agency.



So we're working together. I saw comments by Russia expressing
concern about the behavior of the regime in the discussions with Russia.
But we're all working together to make sure that the regime does not
develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program.



And this is about the regime's behavior, and all of us recognize
that their behavior is moving in the wrong direction. We want to see
that behavior changed. The regime still has an opportunity to change
course and come into compliance and return to a suspension of their
enrichment-related activities and adhere to the Paris Agreement. But we
still remain skeptical, given their history, that they will.



Q But will you -- aren't you a little concerned about if there
is a divided Security Council on this, that it will weaken your hand?



MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that's premature to get into that
kind of discussion. The discussions right now are underway in New York.
They just recently have gotten underway over the last few days. Those
discussions are continuing about how we can move forward to address the
matter.



It was reported by an overwhelming majority of the International
Atomic Energy Agency board to the Security Council because Iran has
failed to comply with their safeguard obligations and has continued to
thumb their nose at the international community and its demands.



Q If you can't even get a statement out of the Security Council
on Iran, I mean, essentially you'll have no leverage left with them.



MR. McCLELLAN: The discussions are ongoing. This matter is before
the Security Council now, and those discussions are in the early stages
right now, so I'm not going to try to speculate at this point beyond
that.



And I -- one final thing, we want to wish happy birthday to Greg
North -- (applause) -- and Chris Edwards.



Q Really?



MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.



Q How old are they?

MR. McCLELLAN: How old are you?



Q For the record.



Q Old enough to know better.



Q You don't have to answer that.



MR. NORTH: Twenty-nine.



MR. McCLELLAN: Let me finish on Iran now that we've landed. I
think that the international community is united in its objective of
preventing the regime from developing a nuclear weapon. All of us want
to see the regime come into compliance with its safeguard obligations
and return to a suspension of its enrichment-related activities.



You know, again, I know that the regime would like to try to shift
the focus away from their behavior and on to other things, but all of us
are keeping the focus where it belongs, and that's on the behavior of
the regime.



Q Have you gotten any assurances from Russia and China with
respect to supporting the United States?



MR. McCLELLAN: The discussions are ongoing with diplomats that are
part of the Security Council process.



Okay? Thank you.