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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,891 posts)
Wed May 27, 2020, 07:44 AM May 2020

Trump's Remarks on Protecting Seniors with Diabetes; May 26, 2020

Last edited Wed May 27, 2020, 08:52 AM - Edit history (1)

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump on Protecting Seniors with Diabetes
HEALTHCARE

Issued on: May 26, 2020

Rose Garden

4:30 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: You definitely have plenty of distancing. I’ve never seen distancing like that. That’s really — that’s really very impressive.

And welcome to the Rose Garden as we take powerful action to lower healthcare costs for America’s seniors. Today, I’m proud to announce that we have reached a breakthrough agreement to dramatically slash the out-of-pocket cost of insulin. You know what’s happened to insulin over the years, right? Through the roof. Insulin — so many people, so necessary.

For hundreds and thousands of seniors enrolled in Medicare — that’s a big deal — participating plans will cap cost at just $35 a month per type of insulin, and some plans may offer it free. So for everybody that was getting ripped off and paying tremendous prices — senior citizens — and, Seema, I want to thank you because you brought this to my attention a long time ago, and you worked very hard on this day. And the press won’t even cover it, but they’ll cover things that are unimportant.

But this is a big day for seniors. This is a tremendous saving. And it allows people that — you know, if you don’t take insulin — I just wrote this down — go blind, stroke, amputation, kidney failure, and other things. So we’re getting it down — $35 per month. And it would be anywhere from $50 to $150 to over $200 a month. So it’s a massive cut — I guess, 60, 70 percent. Nobody has seen anything like this for a long time.

Sleepy Joe can’t do this — that, I can tell you. In fact, it was his problem with Obamacare that caused part of your problem. This will save impacted Americans an average of minimum $446, just on insulin costs a year.

We’re pleased to be joined by Vice President Mike Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams. I also want to thank Seema again. Thank you very much for the job you’ve done helping achieve the incredible victory for Medicare patients nationwide.

In the past, Obamacare prevented insurance providers from competing to offer lower costs for seniors. There was no competition, there was no anything, and they ran away with what took place, and the seniors were horribly hurt. Many people couldn’t take insulin; they couldn’t even think about it.

As a result, Medicare beneficiaries with prescription drug coverage paid an average of $675 for a year’s supply of insulin, and sometimes as high as $1,500. Harmful laws also meant that seniors often paid a different amount almost every single month. They had no idea what they were paying — they were billed. Every month, they were billed a different amount, and it was a massive amount.

One in every three seniors on Medicare has diabetes, and over 3.3 million beneficiaries use at least one type of insulin. Over the past 10 years, these seniors have seen their out-of-pocket costs for this lifesaving treatment almost double.

I don’t use insulin. Should I be? Huh? I never thought about it. But I know a lot of people are very — very badly affected, right? Unbelievable.

That’s why my administration acted decisively. We slashed Obamacare’s crippling requirements and opened up competition like they’ve never seen before. They’ve never seen competition like this. Between transparency and all of the other things we’re doing, nobody has ever had a competitive — competitive situation created like we’ve done it. And the prices, you will see very soon, they’re going to come tumbling down.

Then we brought all the parties to the table — insurers, manufacturers, and other key players — and reached an agreement to deliver insulin at stable and drastically lower out-of-pocket costs for our seniors.

I hope the seniors are going to remember it, because Biden is the one that put us into the jam because they didn’t know what they were doing. They were incompetent.

{snip}

I’d like to also invite up David Ricks, chairman and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company — a very big and a very great company.

Please. This is another young guy.

MR. RICKS: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, David.

MR. RICKS: A pleasure to be here. Really, an honor to be a part of this announcement to improve the lives of so many patients who live with diabetes in our Part D program.

For several years, Lilly has worked hard to improve insulin affordability, and this has been a missing piece that’s now been filled in by the great collaboration from our plan; companies like Bruce’s, who are here; Seema Verma, your administration. Vice President Pence, President Trump, thank you for your leadership to make this happen. This is the kind of collaboration that solves real problems for people with serious issues like diabetes.

{snip}

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President. And — and let me say what a — what a privilege it is to be here with business leaders and activists who have been standing with you, standing with the White House Coronavirus Task Force from the very beginning.

{snip}

But the good news is, Mr. President, that because of the steps the American people have taken, heeding your leadership and the guidance of state and local officials, we’re getting there. And we’re starting to reopen America, as we speak, in a safe and responsible way.

{snip}

ADMINISTRATOR VERMA:

{snip}

But no longer. Thanks to the President’s leadership, Medicare seniors will pay no more than $35 for their insulin — and that’s per month and that’s for all forms of insulin through all phases of the Medicare Part D program. I also will say that some plans are free to even go below the $35, and so they could even see lower premiums as well.

{snip}

Q Mr. President, two questions about a couple of things you’ve tweeted about in the last few days. Were you meaning to criticize Vice President Biden for wearing a mask yesterday? And can you explain why you’ve been tweeting about a conspiracy theory that has been proven to not be true?

THE PRESIDENT: No, Biden can wear a mask, but he was standing outside with his wife — perfect conditions, perfect weather. They’re inside, and they don’t wear masks. And so I thought it was very unusual that he had one on. But I thought that was fine. I wasn’t criticizing him at all. Why would I ever do anything like that?

And your second question was? I couldn’t hear you. Can you —

Q The second —

THE PRESIDENT: Can you take it off? Because I cannot hear you.

Q I’ll — I’ll just speak louder, sir. The —

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, okay, because you want to be politically correct. Go ahead.

Q No, sir. I just want to wear the mask.

THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Q The second question was about your tweets, about the woman who died who you’re suggesting that Joe Scarborough was responsible.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, a lot of people suggest that. And hopefully, someday, people are going to find out. It’s certainly a very suspicious situation. Very sad. Very sad and very suspicious.

Question, please.

Q Her husband has asked you not to tweet about it anymore, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, please. Go.

Q Mr. President, though, have you seen the letter that was written by her husband, begging Twitter to — to delete your tweets, talking about how hard it’s been for his family, for him to deal with that?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I have. But I’m sure that, ultimately, they want to get to the bottom of it, and it’s a very serious situation.

I also saw a clip with — with Joe and Imus where they were having a lot of fun at her expense, and I thought it was totally inappropriate.

No, it’s a very suspicious thing, and I hope somebody gets to the bottom of it. It’ll be a very good thing. As you know, there’s no statute of limitations. So it would be a very good — very good thing to do.

Okay, who’s next? Any questions on insulin?

{snip}

Q Yes. Is there any reason why someone who does not have diabetes would take insulin? Is there any sort of medical reason for that?

THE PRESIDENT: I could ask that question to — anybody like to discuss that? Do you want to discuss it? Please, go ahead. Do you know the answer? Either one of you or both. Come on. Let’s get these highly paid executives up here to give the answer. Seema?

Please, Jerome. We picked a good one. We got it right.

SURGEON GENERAL ADAMS: Well, thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

SURGEON GENERAL ADAMS: And I think it’s important for everyone to know that, as Tracey Brown highlighted earlier, one in three Americans is actually either diabetic or pre-diabetic. And I would encourage folks to go to Diabetes.org/Risk — Risk-Test. So Diabetes.org/Risk-Test to find out if you are at risk for diabetes.

As far as insulin goes, we know that, again, 7 million people actually are dependent on insulin. We know that from a type 1 diabetes standpoint, 1.6 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, and most all of them are dependent on insulin.

Your body, Mr. President, actually makes insulin endogenously. And people such as you and I, we make our own insulin. So, yes, we do utilize insulin, but we make it ourselves.

THE PRESIDENT: Ah.

{snip}

Q What can you tell us about the documents reportedly declassified by Ric Grenell, just before he stepped down as DNI? Are you prepared to release the transcripts of the Flynn-Kislyak conversations?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I’d like to hear it too. I mean, I’d like to hear it. The FBI, as you know, said that he didn’t lie. And certainly, the conversation, almost regardless — it was a good conversation. He was allowed to do it.

And the Mueller people who are — have been proven — they’re very bad. Very bad things they did. Very bad things. A lot of bad things are being found out about the hoax. Greatest hoax in the — in history of our country. And it was an illegal hoax and a very dangerous hoax. And a lot of bad things have been found out about Mueller and the gang.

So I would like to hear that conversation. Yeah, I would like to hear it, personally. So whatever they want me to do, I’ll do.

I think Ric Grenell has done an incredible job. And things are happening now that — I always knew this was the answer. This was a — a — an attempted coup by a bunch of dirty cops and others. These are dirty cops, dishonest slime bags.

All right, yeah. Question? Go ahead, Jeff.

Q Thank you, sir. Mr. President, on Friday, you announced that you wanted governors to reopen churches and synagogues and mosques. And you said you would overrule them if they — if they declined to do so. Can you explain what authority you had in mind when you said that you would do that?

THE PRESIDENT: I can absolutely do it if I want to. And I don’t think I’m going to have to, because it’s starting to open up. We need our churches and our synagogues and our mosques. We want them open: churches, synagogues, mosques and other. We want them open, and we want them open as soon as possible.

Now, I can tell you, I know a lot of pastors, a lot of rabbis, imams, and they want to take care of their people. They want to take care. They don’t want anyone getting hurt or sick, and they’re going to take care of their people. We need — we need these people. We need — we need people that are going to be leading us in faith. And we’re opening them up.

And if I have to, I will override any governor that wants to play games. If they want to play games, that’s okay, but we will win. And we have many different ways where I can override them. And if I have to, I’ll do that. But we want our churches and our synagogues and our mosques, et cetera — we want them open.

Now, there may be some areas, by the way, where the pastor, or whoever, may feel that it’s not quite ready. And that’s okay. That’s okay. But let that be the choice of the congregation and the pastor.

John, go ahead.

Q Mr. President, how long will you give North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to provide you with the information that you and the RNC are asking for before you decide to look elsewhere for a venue for the RNC convention in August?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as you know, we don’t have much time because we have to know that if we’re going to spend millions of dollars on an arena — we want to be in North Carolina. I love North Carolina. I won North Carolina. We just had a big — two races that we won recently for Congress in North Carolina. Two very big races that the press didn’t want to report on. If we would have lost them, it would have been the biggest story in political history.

But we just won two races. It’s a very important place to me. I love North Carolina. In fact, my son, Eric, and Laura named their baby “Carolina” and came from, I think, both. But she was born in North Carolina, as you know — Laura. So, it’s a very important place to me.

But at the same time — and I think that people understand this — we have a governor that doesn’t want to open up the state. And we have a date of August — at the end of August — and we have to know before we spend millions and millions of dollars on an arena to make it magnificent for the convention. And we have tremendous people. I mean, the economic development consequences are tremendous for the state. We have to know that when the people come down, they’re going to have the doors open.

Now, if the governor can’t tell us very soon, unfortunately, we’ll have no choice. This has nothing to do with us; this is between the governor and North Carolina and the people of North Carolina.

But the people want it, and we’ll have to see whether or not the governor — now, he’s a Democrat, and a lot of the Democrats, for political reasons, don’t want to open up their states. So we’ll see if that works, but I don’t think it will. I’d love to have it in North Carolina; that was why I chose it — Charlotte. But we’re going to see. We’re going to see. And at the end, we need a fast decision from the governor. He’s going to have to — because he’s — he’s been acting very, very slowly and very suspiciously. But we’ll find out.

All right? Question, please.

Q So in terms of “soon,” are we talking a week, two weeks, a month?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we need — yeah. I mean, we can’t take — we’re talking about a very short period of time. It’s a massive expenditure, and we have to know. Yeah, I would say within a week that certainly we have to know.

Now, if he can’t do it, if he feels that he’s not going to do it, all he has to do is tell us, and then we’ll have to pick another location. And I will tell you, a lot of locations want it. But I picked North Carolina because I do love that state, and it would’ve been a perfect place for it and it still would be.

But he’s got to say that, you know, when thousands of people come to the arena, that they’ll be able to get in. Does that make sense? I mean, you know, we’ll spend millions and millions of dollars on this magnificent design. But in the end, they have to be able to get in. I don’t want to have it where we get there and then they announce, after all the money was spent, all the work was done, all the people traveling — guess what? — you can’t put anybody in the arena, or you can put a tiny number of people in the arena. We can’t do that, John.

Yeah. Please, go ahead.

Q There are now more than — still more than a dozen states in this country where case numbers are rising. So why is it suspicious if a governor says, “Look, we don’t want to move that quickly. We still think we need to shut down”?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I think it’s fine. They have to do it. Look, the governors, in certain ways, they have to do what they want to do, but they have to tell me what they’re doing. And when it comes to churches, et cetera, they will be overridden by me. When it comes to other things and, you know, many other things, they won’t. If I think something is being done incorrectly or wrong, I’m going to do it. But you have different governors, and they have very different views on where they are and where they’re going. So we’ll see what happens.

{snip}

Q Thank you. About mail-in voting, you’ve been speaking out against a lot — against that a lot.

THE PRESIDENT: You mean, mail-in voting, not ballot?

Q Yeah. You’ve been speaking a lot about that.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q Why should somebody who is afraid of getting coronavirus — going to public places, standing in a line, et cetera — why should they not —

THE PRESIDENT: First of all —

Q Why should they not be allowed to do mail-in?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s going to be in a long time from now, number one. You know, it’s quite a ways away, number one.

But when you do all mail-in voting, ballots, you’re asking for fraud. People steal them out of mailboxes. People print them and then they sign them, and they give them in. The people don’t even know where they’re double counted. People take them where they force people to vote. They harvest. You know what harvesting is. They take many, many ballots and they put them all together, and then they just dump them, and nobody has any idea whether they’re crooked or not.

Look, if you do mail-in voting — now it’s another thing to do absentee voting or if somebody has a medical condition where they go through a process and they get an absentee ballot — that’s okay; that’s different.

But in California, the governor sent, I hear — or is sending — millions of ballots all over the state. Millions. To anybody. To anybody. People that aren’t citizens, illegals. Anybody that walks in California is going to get a ballot.

We’re not going to destroy this country by allowing things like that to happen. We’re not destroying our country. This has more to do with fairness and honesty and, really, our country itself. Because when that starts happening, you don’t have a fair — you have a rigged system. You have a rigged system, and that’s what would happen.

So mail-in ballots — and the governor of California did better than any — that I could ever do in terms of explaining. When he sent out or will send out — and I don’t know, I think it’s maybe partially already done — millions and millions of ballots to anybody in California that’s walking or breathing, many of those people don’t have the right to vote. Well, they’ll be voting. And you know what? We’re not going to let it happen, because you’re subverting our process and you’re making our country a joke.

And the Democrats are doing it because, in theory, it’s good for them. Although, last week, we won two big races. We won in Wisconsin and won in California. California-25. We won a tremendous race in California. That was — that was interesting, because at the end of the race, they brought in the Democrat — the Democrat governor, same governor; he brought in voting booths — not mail-in — voting booths, because they were losing. They saw that through the ballots.

But, no, you can’t do that. You can’t do the mail-in ballots because you’re going to have tremendous fraud. And remember what I said: They’ll be grabbing them from mailboxes. They’ll even be printing them. They’ll use the same paper, the same machines, and they’ll be printing ballots illegally. And they’ll be sending them in by the hundreds of thousands, and nobody is going to know the difference. We can’t do that. You want to vote? You really have to.

Absentee is okay: You’re sick. You’re away. As an example, I have to do an absentee because I’m voting in Florida, and I happen to be President. I live in that very beautiful house over there that’s painted white. So that’s okay. And it’s okay for people that are sick and they can’t get up. Something. You know, something.

But voting is a great honor. It’s a great honor. And people love to go out and vote, and I want to keep it that way. And if we don’t keep it that way, we’ll have nothing but a rigged system in this country, and we can’t do that.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

END

5:22 P.M. EDT
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Trump's Remarks on Protecting Seniors with Diabetes; May 26, 2020 (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves May 2020 OP
I really don't know why this guy kacekwl May 2020 #1

kacekwl

(6,993 posts)
1. I really don't know why this guy
Wed May 27, 2020, 08:40 AM
May 2020

after a press conference like that is not lead away in restraints to a mental health facility and removed from power. I sadly haven't understood anything since he revived more that one vote (his own) for president. What happened to this country ?

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