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

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“Health care reform is not somethint I just cooked up when I took Obama told a crowd ofabouf 1,500 people Thursday at in the Gree Bay suburb of Ashwaubenon. “It is central to our economic In past years and there may have been some disagreement on this Butnot anymore.” Earlier this month, Obam a said he wants Congress to pass a comprehensiver health care bill by the end of the summeer and ready for his signature by fall. Many including the president, favo r a government-sponsored health insurance plan that wouldd compete with private insurers and be available for peoplr not eligible for other governmengt health care programs such as Medicareor Medicaid.
Most Republicanz and many business groups, however, say a competingv plan that isn’t profit-drivehn would drive private insurers outof business. On the , a physician’s group Obama is scheduled to meet with Mondayuin Chicago, said it is opposed to a government-sponsored insurance plan. Obama said his administration is working on a Healthh Insurance Exchange that would allow peopl e to compare insurance benefitsand prices. None of the plansx included in the exchange would be allowed to deny coverage basedon pre-existing conditionzs and all must includer an affordable, basic benefit option.
“I also strongly believe that one of the options in the Exchanges should be a public insurance option – because if the private insurance companies have to compete with a public it will keep them honest and help keep prices Obama said. Supporters of health care reform say it would provide health insurance coverage to millions of Americans and make coveragwe more affordable for those who arealready covered. Because health insuranced premiums have doubled over the last nine and have grown at a rate three timesw fasterthan wages, even those with coverage have reached a breaking Obama said.
Employers are not faring any Small business owners have been forced to cut health care benefits or drop coverager entirely because ofrising costs, Obama “We have the most expensive health care systen in the world,” Obamza said. “We spend almost 50 percenyt more per person on health care than the next mostcostlg nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’rde not any healthier for it.” Obama vowed to let Americana who are content with theirf coverage and their physicians keep what they but said the country has reachedx a point where doing nothingb about the cost of health care is no longer an option.
“If we do nothing, within a decadse we will be spending one out of every five dollarse we earn on health care,” Obama said. “In 30 years, it will be one out of everuy three.” Obama acknowledged covering all Americansd wouldbe expensive, but promised health care reforkm would not add to the country’s deficit over the next 10 “To make that we have already identified hundredsx of billions worth of savings in our budget – savingzs that will come from steps like reducinb Medicare overpayments to insurance companies and rooting out fraud and abuse in both Medicare and Obama said.
In addition, Obamw is proposing that Congress scaled back the amountthe highest-income Americans can deducy on their taxes and use that money to help financr health care. Obama spoke for about 20 minutes and then took question from six people in the audience who expressed fearover “socializecd medicine,” asked questions about wellnesds and even questioned the country’sw education system. Regarding the idea of socializec medicine, Obama said that isn’t what he, or anyonw in Congress, wants. “I’ve got enoug h stuff to do,” he said. “I’ve got North Kore a and Iran. I’ve got Afghanistabn and Iraq.
I think it woul be great if the health care system was workiny perfectly and ifwe didn’r have to get involve at all.” Obama peppered many of his answersa to the audience with even writing a 10-year-old girl named Kennedy a note excusing her from school after her father said she was missinh her last day of class to be at the Obama’s stop in Green Bay was the first time he’s been in the statee since taking office and officialds from the said he may have chosen Wisconsinn because of the state’ws reputation for being a “high quality, low cost” provider of care in the Medicard program. In 2006, Medicare spent an average of $8,304 per beneficiary.
In Wisconsin the average was 16 percent lower than thenational average, accordint to the of Health Care. The Dartmoutuh Atlas has been cited severapl times recently by Obamsa as he makes the case for national healtghcare reform. According to the Dartmouth health spending in the Medicarwe program could be reduced by as much as30 percent, or by $700 billionj a year, without compromising the quality of care, if more doctors and hospitals practiced like those in low-cost areas.
In a letter dated June 3 to Senatee FinanceCommittee members, Wisconsin’s Democratic Senatorz Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl along with counterpartxs from Minnesota and New said they are “proude to represent states and regions that have demonstratesd true leadership in lowering costs….and increasing quality outcomez for patients.”