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HUMANA CHALLENGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATIONJanuary 16, 2014Bruce BroussardBill ClintonTim FinchemLA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA BOB MARRA: Good morning. I'm Bob Marra, the Executive Director and CEO of the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation. I'm honored to be here with our great tournament partners, who will talk a little bit about what's going on this year at the tournament and then we'll field your questions after their remarks. This is the third year of the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation which follows 52 years as the Bob Hope Classic. The vision of our partners, that they had in conceiving this formulation of the tournament as the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, carries forward all of the great charitable benefits to this local region and the economic impacts, but it also impacts our local community by positioning it as the healthiest event in America. The PGA TOUR has been extremely supportive in every way of this tournament every day since it started. Humana is one of the countries greatest companies, I think is one of, clearly the best title sponsor that's out there on the PGA TOUR. They are supportive of us every single day. And what can I say that hasn't been said about President Clinton and his foundation? They're helping millions of people around the world every day. They're literally saving lives and we're so honored that the President and his foundation is so integral to this week of well‑being with a side of golf. So, first on the tee today is the president and CEO of Humana, Bruce Broussard. (Applause.) BRUCE BROUSSARD: Well, good morning everybody. What a great day it's going to be and I think it's going to be a great few days here. Humana's dream is life long well‑being, and I hope you take that away from this meeting. I think it's a wonderful, I mean this golf tournament, it's a wonderful opportunity for us to express ourself both in gratitude to the President, to the PGA TOUR, but in addition to the community as a whole. And one of the things that we're doing different this year, and we always like to raise the game, is actually having an ability for you to track your mile, your miles and how many steps you're taking through an app, and we have partnered and rightly so, with the charity for miles. So, today our people can actually, and our members and in addition to everybody in the tournament, can actually track the number of miles they're getting and Humana will match every mile you walk 25 cents to that charity. So this just takes the game to a higher level where this is not about golf, it's about health and it's about charity and charity to not only community, but in a broad perspective. So I hope that everyone will take advantage of that. Can't say enough about the President and all the things that he's done for both health and for healthcare as a whole. And then Tim is a wonderful partner for us in carrying things forward. So I'll leave it at that. Thank you very much for sponsoring us. (Applause.) BOB MARRA: Thank you, Bruce. Next up is Commissioner Tim Finchem of the PGA TOUR. (Applause.) TIM FINCHEM: Thank you, Bob. And good day everybody. Thanks for being here. We appreciate the media interest and support of our efforts this week. Just a few comments. This has turned out to be a terrific partnership. I think when Humana and the Clinton Foundation came together with us to forward on this tournament in a direction that makes for a great golf, great competition, but focuses on our players as role models to help communicate the things that need to be communicated about the immense health challenges that our country faces going forward. Not so sure we knew that we would be by year three making this much progress. Certainly the conference on Tuesday that President Clinton's folks put together was the best we have had yet and we're learning a lot from those conferences. And listening to the young people on Monday night, the athletes who participated, the professionals from the healthcare area, we continue to learn how big a problem this is, how much it's going to have on the financial future of our country, how much difficulty with diet and exercise, or lack thereof, is impacting the education of our young people, contributing to the growing gap in our society. We have an immense problem. And you only have to look at how many years we have spent billions of dollars in the UnitedStates educating people on the negative affects of smoking to the point where everybody recognizes that what that impact is. And yet we have millions of people that still smoke. To understand the difficulty in an America where we no longer have Phys Ed in schools to get people to exercise and learn about the diet that they should use to be healthy. Our players represent athletes who walk 30 hours or 30 miles a week. They represent a commitment to health. As I mentioned in the conference the other day, 80 percent of the tournaments on the PGA TOUR contribute to health related charities in the communities where we play. A similar percentage of the players own giving and raising last year estimated at 35 million dollars among players foundation and charities, was focused on young people, education and health. And so, all of us in this partnership, Humana, the Clinton Foundation, and the PGA TOUR, have the same stake in the future, and we agree on some of the things that need to be done. Meanwhile, from a competitive standpoint, the energy behind this tournament continues unabated. I would like to thank the Desert Charities organization for decades of support and volunteer involvement in making this tournament work, which continues to this day. And while we have gone in a slightly different direction, at the heart of it is great golf and volunteers coming out and helping raise money to change lives. And we have had a good beginning. The three years is a drop in the bucket. This is a long‑term effort and along the way our players get the opportunity to be involved. And I can tell you from watching them with President Clinton all morning, they are ecstatic about this relationship and committed to do everything they can to make it work. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. (Applause.) BOB MARRA: Thank you, commissioner. And now please welcome President Bill Clinton. (Applause. BILL CLINTON: Thanks very much, Bob. I want to thank all of you first for being here. Bruce, for being our sponsor without, without Humana, we wouldn't be here. But, I think that there's a part of this story that is, over the last three years, even here in the valley, it's under appreciated. And that is how smart Tim Finchem is. And let me tell you what I mean by that. We have been actually, we have known each other since we were very young, I know that's hard for you to believe but we once were and we once did. And as a life‑long avid duffer I have always admired the quality of leadership he brought to the PGA TOUR. I knew it was an unconventional and brilliant choice when he came in here. But, the reason I'm here is a few years ago he got in touch with us and he said we need to save this old Bob Hope golf tournament. It's very important to the PGA TOUR, it's very important to the Coachella Valley, it's very important to all this charitable work we do, and I'm worried that we're going to lose it. And he had, first of all, the foresight to get Humana and our foundation together and secondly, to realize that we had a forum that worked great in the 1950s when there was a lot less work, a lot less revenue in golf, per se, a lot less competition for the golfers' time and tension, and frankly, a lot less competition for what people watched on television. When this whole format started, there were basically three options on TV. The networks. And then eventually it went to four. You find that hard to believe, don't you? (Laughter.) So it's amazing what you remember if you live long enough. (Laughter.) Slightly frightening, but amazing. Anyway, so it was obvious we couldn't have a five day tournament any more, if we wanted to compete and get really good players. It was obvious that since this tournament is in competition with an event in the Middle East and since there are lots and lots of tournaments every year and since they, the professionals that come here to play, actually have to make a living in a pretty difficult environment that is increasingly competitive. That we shouldn't ask them to play more courses than we needed to ask and we shouldn't ask them to have one professional playing with three amateurs for the duration of the tournament. It was unfair and then it was just one more of the elements. I was joking with one of them today and I thought about this, about how when there's bad weather, at the beginning of a tournament especially, it could be incredibly fortunate for the people who tee off early in the morning when the weather is not bad and terrible for the people in the afternoon if it is, and vice versa. But you hope it all evens out. If it wasn't, if we were asking a lot of these players to be one player with three amateurs. Now it's two and two. And then a few will get to play their way into Sunday and will have to play their way into Sunday. And all these things have been changed to make this both more entertaining for people who watch it, and more attractive for the professionals, in a way that doesn't change the fundamental mission of the tournament. And so the second thing I want to say and then we'll open to your questions, but I want to thank Tim Finchem, he never gets enough credit for the things he did. He decided that we had to do this and we would not, this tournament, would not survive if we didn't make these changes. So if it hadn't been for you, if it hadn't been for you and your company, I just, I was glad to go along for the ride. Bob Hope was a friend of mine. I was thrilled and intrigued by the chance to try to save something that he had started, and I love it here. And that's the only other point I want to make. This valley has done something in the last three years that our whole country and indeed increasingly people across the world, will have to replicate. By building a really incredibly frankly, almost complicated network of cooperation with everybody that has any impact on the health care in the Valley working together to keep more people well. As well as to cut the cost of treating them if they do need it. And I think that the people who live here should know that this is a very important model for America, because of the economic, racial, ethnic and other diversity of the area to see all these people working together, checking their politics at the door, checking very often their economic interests at the door, to try to figure out how to maximize the health and wellness of people here. This initiative would not have started were it not for the PGA, the tournament, and the Humana sponsoring it. And as someone who deals with this kind of work all across the world on a regular basis, I can tell you that I think it is a very significant development for the UnitedStates, and it is something that other communities will be forced to model if we really want to deal with the fundamental health challenges we have. So I want to thank Tim Finchem, and I want to thank the citizens of the Coachella Valley for doing something that I think will be of enduring value to our entire nation. You guys got any questions, we'll try to answer them. BOB MARRA: So, yes, we'll take your questions now. And leading that will be mark Stevens of the PGA TOUR. MARK STEVENS: We have a couple microphones in the audience. If you raise your hand, we'll do our best to get around to you. Larry. Q. Has this week developed the way you thought it would three years ago when it was first approached to you with the health care conference, as well as the messages throughout the week? BILL CLINTON: No, it's been better. For one thing, it's been better in two senses. One is, this health care wellness initiative in the Valley itself, has come further faster than I thought it would. It's caught on, people get it, and most people here are here for the tournament, I don't want to bore you with it, with the deal, but it is a thing to behold. I've been doing this stuff a long, long time now, decades, that's happened faster. The other thing is, I was really‑‑ I believed when Tim talked to me, he convinced me, and I was afraid this tournament was about to go under. And the field got better, quicker, thicker than I thought. And everybody went along, including the people here who had an interest in it with continued changes including some the PGA made this year in the tournament. All of them for people who had a vested interest in the way it used to be. And every change that's been made there were some people who wished it hadn't been. We're all like that. That's human nature. That's not a criticism. So, I would say those are the two things that I'm surprised about. This valley has supported this whole mission of making this a health based week and moved faster than I thought. And the tournament itself has recovered more quickly than I thought. And if the PGA TOUR rules on appearance fees applied in Europe, it would recover even faster. (Laughter. I probably shouldn't say that, but it's easier for me to say it than him. (Laughter.) Q. Can you catch us up on your own golf game, how often you play and when the last time you played with President Obama, I think last year you said you played a few holes and then he had to leave for something bigger and better. BILL CLINTON: I played 13 holes with him and he had to leave to go do something at the Whitehouse. He was five strokes ahead of me after nine holes, and after 13 holes he was one stroke ahead. So, I accused him of fabricating the emergency exit. (Laughter.) But, he plays well when he plays with me. He had the best round he ever had where we were playing at the one course out at Andrews Air Force Base. It was really quite‑‑ it's a seriously difficult course. I don't play too much. I try to play a little in the summer. I did play twice between Christmas and New Years. And I've played 27 holes since I've been out here. But that, that's the most I've played in this concentrated amount of time in a long time. I was playing quite a lot for as long as I could when I got out of the Whitehouse. And I looked forward to recovery from my heart surgery. But what happened was when the earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, and I took over a major role there, I didn't stop doing anything else. So it adversely affected my golf and my attempts to stay active in my thwarted saxophone career. (Laughter.) So, I'm trying to get back into both this year. But I had a pretty good round yesterday. Everybody gets lucky once in a while. Q. You saved the tournament. Are you as optimistic about saving lives? Are you feeling a sense of progress in what the Health Matters Initiative is doing? BILL CLINTON: I am. But it won't be me, it will be the people here. You should ask‑‑ I would like for my partner here to talk about this. When we started this health reform, I know everybody's all upset about the mess ups in the individual markets and everything, but I didn't think we would be living as fast as we are where health providers are leading the way to paying people to stay healthy. And paying health care providers for a good outcome, not by a procedure. I'm really optimistic about that. I'm really proud of it. It's gone way better. But do you agree with that? BRUCE BROUSSARD: I do. BILL CLINTON: It's happening faster than I thought. BRUCE BROUSSARD: I do, Mr.President. I think the wave across the UnitedStates is just skyrocketing. There's a lot of good things that I think are coming out of what was put in 2010 in some of the changes that were legislated. And I believe you'll see some really, really fascinating aspects of that. But the second thing I think that is important is what we're doing here in the Valley. And we're getting to some really fundamental problems around life‑style, around economic conditions, around health literacy, and I think that is going to have a longer impact on the health in total than just some reimbursement changes. Q. The initiative is really, wow, the accomplishments that are being made. That's my question. You said something, don't want to bore you everybody's here for golf, but do you envision showcasing any of the local accomplishments that are taking place through the initiative here at the tournament and really bringing the two together so everyone can see it? BRUCE BROUSSARD: I know we are. We find with our partnership with the Foundation and we have a foundation that we are putting money in, in the Valley. And we do showcase it. Because I think there's a lot to learn. And what we are finding as an organization being in all 50 states is that there's best practices. And I think there's some really good things that Mr.President's doing with the foundation that is showing that it does have an impact on the community overall. TIM FINCHEM: I might just throw in something on that. What's happening here is now in detail being picked up around the country. Our tournament in Jacksonville, Florida is funding the Clinton Foundation's capability to have a full‑time coordinator to do many of the same things that are happening here, in northeast Florida. I think the same things are already happening in Arkansas, it's happening in Houston. So the more success stories like this there are, it will reach a tipping point where the country will move more quickly in that direction. But you have to show a lot of success and that's what the president's talking about. So when he, the reason there's so many people in this room is because he's here. He gets out and talks about this and that in and of itself will help communicate and that's what they're doing so effectively with the foundation. We're just delighted to be a little part of it. BILL CLINTON: I confess, my focus here at the tournament has been on trying to get more and more players and the players, the Tour Wives Association involved in specific health projects or trying to find ways to support what they're already doing. And so what I've tried to do is to make sure you get plenty of publicity, as Tim just said, in the other places where we got these projects, and all over the world. And I literally talk about this all over the world. I have a very simple view of the way the world's working now. Pick up the paper today, see every place they're having trouble, what is the source of the trouble? They think their differences are more important than what they got in common. So they don't want to share. And so if you look at what's going well, it's modeled by what's here in the Coachella Valley. So I think that I maybe should give more publicity here during the tournament at our booth, for example, and all that, and I will re‑examine that and I thank you for that question, because it always occurred to me that I should be promoting outside, not through here. And if I made an oversight, I'm sorry. Q. I would like to know what is the most rewarding part of the Clinton Foundation for you for you, Mr.Clinton. BILL CLINTON: What's the most rewarding part of it? I think in many different ways seeing people have hope that they didn't have before. I'll give you an example. This summer I was in Malawi in Africa, southern Africa, where we are helping 21,000 farmers to buy better and less expensive seed and fertilizer and plant better. And we take their food to markets so that they don't lose half their income, which is what a lot of poor farmers do, where they don't have any way to get their own food there. In the first year these 21,000 Farmers, their income has increased 500 percent. They didn't get rich, the average farm is an acre and the average farmer is a woman with a hoe. And this lady looks at me and she said, and she was planting with her hoe, she said, do you think you could do this? And I said, yeah, I know I could. She said, why? I said, because I grew up sort of like you did. She said, I don't believe you. She gives me the hoe. So I started planting. There are 324 AIDS orphans in Cambodia that we help. They're all going to have normal lives. So in various different ways, that's what I like the best. I like seeing people surprised by the good things that are going to happen. It's the most rewarding part of my life now. MARK STEVENS: Well thank you for the time, I would like to thank all the speakers for being here today. And we look forward to a great competition. (Applause.) BILL CLINTON: I just got a helpful note about the question you asked. It says, we're doing cooking demos, lectures and other activities to promote what we're doing here in the Valley in heart health at our booth at Bob Hope Square. So there. (Laughter.) Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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