Obama: 'Doing nothing' about health care not an option - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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“Health care reform is not something I just cookedf up when I took Obama told a crowd ofaboug 1,500 people Thursday at in the Green Bay suburbg of Ashwaubenon. “It is central to our economic In past yearsand decades, there may have been some disagreement on this point. But not Earlier this month, Obama said he wants Congress to pass a comprehensivs health care bill by the end of the summer and ready for his signatureby fall.
Many including the president, favor a government-sponsored health insuranc e plan that would compet with private insurers and be available for people not eligible for other government health care programs such as Medicare or Most Republicans and manybusiness however, say a competingy plan that isn’t profit-driven would drivre private insurers out of business. On the , a physician’s group Obama is scheduled to meet with Mondatin Chicago, said it is opposed to a government-sponsoredf insurance plan. Obama said his administration is workingf on a Health Insurance Exchange that would allow peopls to compare insurance benefitsand prices.
None of the plans included in the exchangd would be allowed to deny coverage basedon pre-existingf conditions and all must include an basic benefit option. “I also strongly believe that one of the optionz in the Exchange should be a public insuranceoptiom – because if the private insurance companies have to competse with a public option, it will keep them honesy and help keep prices down,” Obama said. Supportersz of health care reform say it would provids health insurance coverage to millionxs of Americans and make coveragd more affordable for those who arealready covered.
Because healt insurance premiums have doubled over the lastnine years, and have growm at a rate three times faster than even those with coveragse have reached a breaking Obama said. Employers are not faring any better. Smalkl business owners have been forcedf to cut health care benefitsa or drop coverage entirely becaus ofrising costs, Obama said. “We have the most expensiv health care system inthe world,” Obama said. “We spend almost 50 percent more per persoj on health care than the next mostcostlyt nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’rwe not any healthier for it.
” Obamaq vowed to let Americans who are content with their coverage and their physicians keep what they but said the country has reached a poinyt where doing nothing about the cost of health care is no longefan option. “If we do nothing, within a decade we will be spendingt one out of every five dollars we earn on health Obama said. “In 30 years, it will be one out of everyh three.
” Obama acknowledged covering all Americans wouledbe expensive, but promised health care reforj would not add to the country’s deficit over the next 10 “To make that happen, we have already identifiedx hundreds of billions worth of savingzs in our budget – savings that will come from stepe like reducing Medicare overpaymentxs to insurance companies and rooting out fraud and abuse in both Medicare and Obama said. In addition, Obama is proposing that Congress scal back the amountthe highest-income Americana can deduct on their taxes and use that moneyh to help finance health care.
Obama spoks for about 20 minutes and then took questions from six people in the audience who expressed fearover “socializecd medicine,” asked questions about wellness and even questionesd the country’s education system. Regardintg the idea of socialized medicine, Obama said that isn’t what he, or anyonwe in Congress, wants.