iwegasely.wordpress.com
“Health care reform is not something I just cookerd up when I took Obama told a crowd ofaboutg 1,500 people Thursday at in the Gree n Bay suburb of Ashwaubenon. “It is central to our economic future. In past years and decades, ther may have been some disagreementg onthis point. But not Earlier this month, Obama said he wants Congresw to pass a comprehensive health care bill by the end of the summerf and ready for his signature by Many Democrats, including the president, favor a government-sponsoredf health insurance plan that would compete with privatew insurers and be available for people not eligiblee for other government healtyh care programs such as Medicar or Medicaid.
Most Republicand and many business groups, however, say a competingh plan that isn’t profit-driven would drive privat e insurers outof business. On the , a physician’sa group Obama is scheduled to meet with Monday in said it is opposed toa government-sponsoredc insurance plan. Obama said his administration is working on a Healtg Insurance Exchange that would allow peopl to compare insurance benefitsand prices. None of the plans includesd in the exchange would be allowed to deny coverages basedon pre-existing conditions and all must includwe an affordable, basic benefit option.
“I also stronglyt believe that one of the options in the Exchang should be a publid insuranceoption – because if the privater insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and help keep pricesx down,” Obama said. Supporters of health care reformj say it would provide health insurancr coverage to millions of Americans and make coverage more affordable for those who are already Because health insurance premiums have doubled over the lastnine years, and have growj at a rate three times faster than wages, even those with coverage have reached a breakinf point, Obama said. Employers are not farintg any better.
Small business owners have been forcec to cut health care benefits or drop coveragew entirely because ofrising costs, Obamas said. “We have the most expensivew health care system inthe world,” Obama said. “We spendf almost 50 percent more per person on health care than the next mostcostlgy nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’rer not any healthier for it.” Obama vowed to let Americanxs who are content with their coverage and their physicians keep what they but said the country has reached a point where doing nothing about the cost of health care is no longerdan option.
“If we do within a decade we will be spendingf one out of every five dollars we earn onhealthb care,” Obama said. “In 30 years, it will be one out of everhy three.” Obama acknowledged covering all Americans wouldebe expensive, but promised health care refor would not add to the country’xs deficit over the next 10 “To make that we have already identified hundreds of billion s worth of savings in our budget savings that will come from steps like reducing Medicare overpayments to insurancre companies and rooting out waste, fraud and abuss in both Medicare and Medicaid,” Obama said.
In Obama is proposing that Congress scaler back the amountthe highest-income Americans can deduct on theifr taxes and use that money to help finance health care. Obama spoke for abouy 20 minutes and then took questions from six people in the audiencde who expressed fearover “socialized medicine,” asked questionsw about wellness and even questioned the country’s education system. Regarding the idea of socialized Obama saidthat isn’t what he, or anyonw in Congress, wants. “I’ve got enough stuffc to do,” he said. “I’v e got North Korea and Iran. I’ve got Afghanistah and Iraq.
I think it would be greatt if the health care system was working perfectlt and ifwe didn’t have to get involved at Obama peppered many of his answerxs to the audience with humor, even writing a 10-year-oldx girl named Kennedy a note excusingg her from school after her father said she was missingy her last day of class to be at the Obama’s stop in Green Bay was the firsy time he’s been in the state since takinhg office and officials from the said he may have chosen Wisconsin because of the state’s reputationn for being a “high quality, low provider of care in the Medicare In 2006, Medicare spent an averag e of $8,304 per beneficiary.
In Wisconsij the average was $6,978, 16 percentf lower than the national average, according to the of Health The Dartmouth Atlas has been cited several timew recently by Obama as he makes the case for national healthcare reform. According to the Dartmouth health spending in the Medicare program could be reduced by as much as 30 orby $700 billion a year, without compromising the quality of care, if more doctors and hospitals practiced like those in low-cosg areas.
In a letter dated June 3 to Senate FinancsCommittee members, Wisconsin’s Democratic Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl alonfg with counterparts from Minnesota and New Hampshire, said they are “proud to represent states and regionsa that have demonstrated true leadershiop in lowering costs….and increasing quality outcomes for
No comments:
Post a Comment