Remarks by Trump and Pence at a Coronavirus Briefing with Health Insurers; March 10, 2020

[mahatmakanejeeves]

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump and Vice President Pence at a Coronavirus Briefing with Health Insurers

HEALTHCARE

Issued on: March 10, 2020

Roosevelt Room

11:43 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We’re meeting with the top executives of the health insurance companies, the biggest companies in our country — probably the biggest companies in our country, probably the biggest companies in the world. I can’t imagine being much bigger.

But these are the great — the great health insurance companies. And I think tremendous progress is being made. They’re willing to do things for the people and their customers and probably, in a true sense, beyond their customers that normally I don’t think they’d be doing.

And so I want to thank them, and I’ll ask Vice President Pence to maybe give us a little update as to where we are.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I’d be very happy to. Thank you, Mr. President. President Trump made it clear from the early days of the coronavirus in the United States that this would be a whole-of-government approach. And we’ve brought the full resources of the federal government to bear. But this President has also called together businesses and industries to make this a whole-of-America approach.

{snip}

And I know I speak on behalf of the President when I say how grateful we are for the collaborative spirit, the generosity, and the partnership represented by the great companies at this table.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s true. Very true. And we are working very closely with the cruise line industry and — very, very closely. They’re taking very strong steps in terms of people going on and going off. But they’re spending a lot of money and they are working very hard. And we’re work — we’re going to be helping that industry. Likewise, with the airline industry, they’re taking very, very strong steps for people coming into our country, even getting off the planes. So we are working very closely with them. We’re helping them. They’re two great industries, and we’ll be helping them through this patch.

And, so far, I think it’s been going very well. You know all about the big ship that came in yesterday. And that’s going along incredibly well.

We’re working with the state of California successfully — very successfully — and also with Canada and with the UK. So, the UK is taking their people, their citizens back, and Canada is about 600 people; they’re coming back. They’re being met and brought to planes and being brought very, very — in a very, very dignified fashion back into Canada. So we appreciate all of the help we’ve had in that. And that’s working out very well.

{snip}

THE PRESIDENT: Right. Okay, thank you.

And, Governor? Pete Ricketts. Nebraska, everybody. Nice to see you, by the way.

GOVERNOR RICKETTS: Mr. President, I just appreciate your leadership —

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

GOVERNOR RICKETTS: — and the Vice President’s leadership to work with the governors to be able to make sure we’re keeping people healthy in our states. It’s been a fantastic cooperation at all levels of government, and we really appreciate also all the cooperation of all these executives around the table to make sure that the people in my state and all the states across the country will be able to be able to get the test and not worry about how they’re going to pay for it.

THE PRESIDENT: Right. Great. Thanks. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody.

Q Mr. President, are you still going to Capitol Hill today?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q You are?

THE PRESIDENT: I am. About 12:30.

END

11:53 A.M. EDT

[Harker]

1. Nobody does drivel like Trumpsky and Pence. n/t

[likesmountains 52]

2. He said the word very 18 times. I feel very much better!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. It was more than that. Go to the original text and hit Control-F in Windows.

"Very" appears 31 times.

[likesmountains 52]

4. If he wasn't saying "very" he wasn't even talking !

[nature-lover]

5. Telemedicine and home testing available now?

additional remarks at the link:

"MR. BROUSSARD: I would just like to say as, a large servicer of Medicare, that we are very oriented to the aging population, and most importantly, how do we make it as easy as possible for them to receive their tests. And being able to do it in the home is a very important part of that. And so when we think about telemedicine and home, it reduces great barriers to —

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

MR. BROUSSARD: — that will allow them to have the testing.

THE PRESIDENT: And a lot of people now are taking advantage of that — really, strong advantage."

They then go on to another speaker.

[SharonAnn]

6. And what about the people who have no health insurance?