Obama: Doing 'nothing' about health care not an option - Kansas City Business Journal:

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“Health care reform is not somethint I just cooked up when I took Obama told a crowd ofabouft 1,500 people Thursday at in the Greehn Bay suburb of Ashwaubenon. “It is central to our economic In past yearsand decades, there may have been some disagreemeny on this point. But not anymore.” Earlier this Obama said he wants Congress to pass a comprehensive health care bill by the end of the summer and readyu for his signatureby fall. Many including the president, favor a government-sponsored health insurancw plan that would compete with privats insurers and be available for people not eligible for otherd government health care programs such as Medicarror Medicaid.
Most Republicans and many business however, say a competing plan that isn’r profit-driven would drive private insurerss outof business. On the , a physician’s group Obamq is scheduled to meet with Mondahyin Chicago, said it is opposed to a government-sponsoreed insurance plan. Obama said his administrationb is working on a Health Insurancew Exchange that would allow people to compare insurance benefitsand prices. None of the plans includeds in the exchange woulcd be allowed to deny coverage basedon pre-existinhg conditions and all must include an affordable, basic benefig option.
“I also strongly believe that one of the option s in the Exchange should be a public insuranceoption – because if the privatr insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and help keep pricesw down,” Obama said. Supporterx of health care reform say it would providr health insurance coverage to millionx of Americans and make coverage more affordable for those who arealready covered. Becauses health insurance premiums have doubled over the last nine and have grown at a rate threer times fasterthan wages, even those with coveragde have reached a breaking point, Obama Employers are not faring any better.
Smal l business owners have been forced to cut health care benefitss or drop coverage entirely because of rising Obama said. “We have the most expensive health care system in the Obama said. “We spend almost 50 percenyt more per person on health care than the next mostcostluy nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’re not any healthier for Obama vowed to let Americans who are contenft with their coverage and theire physicians keep whatthey have, but said the countruy has reached a pointy where doing nothing about the cost of healtbh care is no longer an option.
“Irf we do nothing, within a decade we will be spendingy one out of ever y five dollars we earn onhealth care,” Obama said. “In 30 years, it will be one out of every Obama acknowledged covering all Americans wouldbe expensive, but promisec health care reform would not add to the country’s deficit over the next 10 “To make that happen, we have alreadu identified hundreds of billions worth of savings in our budgert – savings that will come from stepse like reducing Medicare overpayments to insurance companies and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in both Medicare and Obama said.
In addition, Obama is proposing that Congress scale back the amounttthe highest-income Americans can deduct on their taxesw and use that money to help financd health care. Obama spoke for about 20 minutesa and then took questions from six peopld in the audience who expressedr fearover “socialized asked questions about wellness and even questioned the country’s education system. Regarding the idea of socializeds medicine, Obama said that isn’gt what he, or anyone in Congress,