1854 Dec. 12 / Administration of George W. Bush, 2005

NOTE: The President spoke at 11:16 a.m. at the our seniors. And the reason we did, because Park Hyatt Philadelphia. In his remarks, he re- if the Government commits to health care ferred to Buntzie Churchill, president, and Wil- for our seniors, it ought to be a program that liam R. Sasso, vice-chairman, board of directors, does the following things: One, provide mod- World Affairs Council of Philadelphia; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organiza- ern medicine; and two, give seniors a variety tion; Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari, Deputy of options from which to match their needs President Ghazi al-Ujayl al-Yawr, Minister of De- to that which is available. fense Sadun al-Dulaymi, and Speaker of the We fully recognize that for some seniors, Transistional National Assembly Hajim al-Hassani that this is a daunting task. When you give of Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also people choice and options, it is—it can be released a Spanish language transcript of these re- a situation where people say, ‘‘I don’t really— marks. this is something I may not want to do.’’ And so I want to assure the seniors the following Statement on the Death of Gebran things: One, the Medicare—the new Medi- care plan is voluntary; it’s optional; two, that Tueni there are people around who are willing to December 12, 2005 help explain the program for you and to you. The murder of Gebran Tueni, a Lebanese There’s—when you have choices to make, patriot, Member of Parliament, and pub- there’s going to be some—you do have lisher of one of ’s leading news- choices to make—and somebody will be able papers, is yet another act of violence aimed to sit down with you and explain why this at subjugating Lebanon to Syrian domination program is good. and silencing the Lebanese press. Mr. Tueni For example, Eloise is talking about the was a well-known opponent of Syrian inter- fact that she’s spending a lot on prescription ference in Lebanon. Like so many other drugs, and under the new Medicare plan, brave Lebanese, Mr. Tueni knew that his she’s able to choose a program that will sub- courageous stand on behalf of Lebanon’s stantially reduce the cost of her prescription independence and freedom carried great drugs. Low-income seniors will get substan- risk. Despite these dangers to his life, he re- tial help. People will be able to match a pro- turned to Lebanon a day before his assassina- gram to their specific needs. tion to continue his efforts to promote free- And what we want to assure seniors around dom and democracy in his country. the country is that there is help. You can call I strongly condemn the savage attack on 1-800-Medicare. You can get on the Internet Mr. Tueni and extend my condolences to his with medicare.gov. Ask your son or daughter; family and the families of the other innocent ask people in your church; ask people in victims killed in Lebanon. must comply AARP; ask people in your community center with Security Council Reso- to help you look at what’s available for you. lutions 1559, 1595, and 1636 and end its in- It’s a good deal. It’s a good deal for our sen- terference in Lebanon once and for all. iors. And so one of the reasons we have come today is to encourage people to see what is Remarks Following a Roundtable available in the new law. Enrollment began Discussion on Medicare in in mid-November. The program will begin Springfield, Virginia in January of this year. We urge you to look December 13, 2005 at the options available to you and sign up by May of next year. Dr. Mark McClellan and I have just heard This is Government that has recognized from folks who have been analyzing and/or it has a responsibility to help our seniors. And helping people analyze the current Medicare the bill I was fortunate enough to sign into drug benefit and current Medicare—mod- law does just that. ernized Medicare program. Again, I want to thank you all for joining Awhile ago, I worked with the Congress us. I want to thank you for your hard work, to modernize and strengthen Medicare for Charlotte. Ellen DeMucci is a pharmacist.

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