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

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“Health care reform is not something I just cookeds up when Itook office,” Obama told a crowf of about 1,500 peoplwe Thursday at in the Greejn Bay suburb of Ashwaubenon. “Itr is central to our economic future. In past year s and decades, there may have been some disagreement on this Butnot anymore.” Earlier this month, Obama said he want s Congress to pass a comprehensive healtj care bill by the end of the summer and ready for his signaturw by fall.
Many Democrats, including the favor a government-sponsored health insurance plan that woul compete with private insurers and be available for people not eligiblse for other government health care programs such as Medicare or Most Republicans and manybusiness groups, say a competing plan that isn’t profit-driven woulc drive private insurers out of On Thursday, the , a physician’s groupo Obama is scheduled to meet with Mondayu in Chicago, said it is opposed to a government-sponsoredd insurance plan. Obama said his administration is working on a Healthy Insurance Exchange that would alloaw people to compare insurance benefitsand prices.
None of the plans include in the exchange would be allowed to deny coveragre basedon pre-existing conditions and all must include an affordable, basic benefit option. “I also strongly believe that one of the options in the Exchange should be a public insuranceoption – because if the private insurancse companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honesty and help keep prices Obama said. Supporters of health care reforj say it would provide health insurance coverage to millionse of Americans and make coverage more affordable for thosd who arealready covered.
Because health insurance premiume have doubled over the lastnine years, and have growh at a rate three times faster than even those with coverage have reache d a breaking point, Obama said. Employers are not farinv any better. Small business owners have been forceds to cut health care benefitsx or drop coverage entirely because of rising Obama said. “We have the most expensivde health care system inthe world,” Obama “We spend almost 50 percent more per person on healtnh care than the next most costly But here’s the Green Bay: we’re not any healthier for Obama vowed to let Americand who are content with their coverag e 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 longet an option.
“If we do nothing, within a decade we will spendinhg one out of every five dollar we earn on health Obama said. “In 30 years, it will be one out of everuy three.” Obama acknowledged covering all Americanzs wouldbe expensive, but promised healt care reform would not add to the country’s deficigt over the next 10 years. “Toi make that happen, we have already identified hundredz of billions worth of savings in ourbudget – savings that will come from stepe like reducing Medicare overpayments to insurance companiess and rooting out waste, fraud and abusr in both Medicare and Medicaid,” Obamz said.
In addition, Obama is proposingh that Congress scale back the amountthe highest-incomde Americans can deduct on their taxees and use that money to help finance healthb care. Obama spoke for about 20 minutezs and then took questions from six people in the audienc who expressed fearover “socialized medicine,” asked questionx about wellness and even questioned the country’zs education system. Regarding the idea of socialized Obama saidthat isn’t what he, or anyon in Congress, wants. “I’ve got enough stuff to he said. “I’ve got North Korez and Iran.
I’ve got Afghanistan and I think it would be great if the health care systemn was working perfectly and ifwe didn’t have to get involvedc at all.” Obama peppered many of his answerx to the audience with humor, even writing a 10-year-olx girl named Kennedy a note excusinb her from school after her father said she was missinfg her last day of clasds to be at the event. Obama’s stop in Greenj Bay was the firsttime he’s been in the statw since taking office and officials from the said he may have chose n Wisconsin because of the state’s reputation for beinf a “high quality, low provider of care in the Medicarse program.
In 2006, Medicare spent an average of $8,304 per beneficiary. In Wisconsin the average was $6,978, 16 percenty lower than the national average, according to the of Healtbh Care. The Dartmouth Atlas has been cite several times recently by Obama as he makeas the case for national health care According to the Dartmouth health spending in the Medicare program coulfd be reduced by as much as 30 orby $700 billion a without compromising the quality of care, if more doctors and hospitalas practiced like those in low-cost In a letter dated June 3 to Senate Financ e Committee members, Wisconsin’s Democratic Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl along with counterpartas from Minnesota and New Hampshire, said they are “proued to represent states and regionsw that have demonstrated true leadership in lowering costs….
and increasing quality outcomes for patients.”