Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, July 18th, 2009
Right now in Washington, our Senate and House of Representatives are both debating proposals for health insurance reform. Today, I want to speak with you about the stakes of this debate, for our people and for the future of our nation.
This is an issue that affects the health and financial well-being of every single American and the stability of our entire economy.
That's for sure.
It’s about every family unable to keep up with soaring out of pocket costs and premiums rising three times faster than wages. Every worker afraid of losing health insurance if they lose their job, or change jobs. Everyone who’s worried that they may not be able to get insurance or change insurance if someone in their family has a pre-existing condition.
Everyone that has insurance with a job has the right to keep their insurance up to 18 months after the loss of a job by law. It's called Cobra Insurance. I know about this because we were on it for all of the 18 months. And you wouldn't believe who signed this into law: none other than President Reagan!
It’s about a woman in Colorado who told us that when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her insurance company – the one she’d paid over $700 a month to – refused to pay for her treatment. She had to use up her retirement funds to save her own life.
Insurances don't refuse to pay for treatment for no reason. If a doctor makes a valid case for a treatment or procedure, than the insurance plan will pay for it. If it might be experimental treatment, than that's something that the Insurance company has the right to decline payment.
It’s about a man from Maryland who sent us his story – a middle class college graduate whose health insurance expired when he changed jobs. During that time, he needed emergency surgery, and woke up $10,000 in debt – debt that has left him unable to save, buy a home, or make a career change.
Again, he should have had Cobra to take care of this. Unless of course he turned it down because he thought it might be too much to pay for.
It’s about every business forced to shut their doors, or shed jobs, or ship them overseas. It’s about state governments overwhelmed by Medicaid, federal budgets consumed by Medicare, and deficits piling higher year after year.
This is all a direct result of too much regulation in businesses. Higher taxes imposed by none other than the same people trying to ram this legislation down our throats. Medicaid like the rest of Healthcare obviously needs reform, but not to be run by the government. And speaking of deficits...
This is the status quo. This is the system we have today. This is what the debate in Congress is all about: Whether we’ll keep talking and tinkering and letting this problem fester as more families and businesses go under, and more Americans lose their coverage. Or whether we’ll seize this opportunity – one we might not have again for generations – and finally pass health insurance reform this year, in 2009.
Yes, it is a great time to reform the Healthcare system. But lets keep it private.
Now we know there are those who will oppose reform no matter what. We know the same special interests and their agents in Congress will make the same old arguments, and use the same scare tactics that have stopped reform before because they profit from this relentless escalation in health care costs. And I know that once you’ve seen enough ads and heard enough people yelling on TV, you might begin to wonder whether there’s a grain of truth to what they’re saying. So let me take a moment to answer a few of their arguments.
How typical for a Liberal to try to suggest that the Conservatives have the same political tactics they have. Sure some republicans in the past decade have been accused of fraud. But it's a well known fact that liberals love to say they are helping the poor by giving them more benefits, when really they give them just enough to keep them where they're at so that they have to constantly rely on them. It's called job security. Definitely NOT the American Dream. But I actually have not heard a single case where a Republican has financially benefitted from the current healthcare system.
First, the same folks who controlled the White House and Congress for the past eight years as we ran up record deficits will argue – believe it or not – that health reform will lead to record deficits. That’s simply not true.
Yes it is! The CBO says that the plan will increase the federal deficit by $239 billion over the next 10 years.Our proposals cut hundreds of billions of dollars in unnecessary spending and unwarranted giveaways to insurance companies in Medicare and Medicaid. They change incentives so providers will give patients the best care, not just the most expensive care, which will mean big savings over time. And we have urged Congress to include a proposal for a standing commission of doctors and medical experts to oversee cost-saving measures.
More inexperienced czars for Obama to dictate to.
I want to be very clear: I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade. And by helping improve quality and efficiency, the reforms we make will help bring our deficits under control in the long-term.
He will sign a bill that adds to the deficit. He's already signed a few. But how he plans to make good on this statement is by fudging the numbers. In the link to the Politico article above for the CBO projections, the democrats are saying that they are working on making new laws for changing the way they do their accounting. It's going to be a new pay-as-you-go plan. Let's face it, people are sick of all the spending and the dems know it. So to try to squeeze more out of our empty pockets, they are going to change they way numbers get reported so that we don't see how much they're spending!
Those who oppose reform will also tell you that under our plan, you won’t get to choose your doctor – that some bureaucrat will choose for you. That’s also not true. Michelle and I don’t want anyone telling us who our family’s doctor should be – and no one should decide that for you either. Under our proposals, if you like your doctor, you keep your doctor. If you like your current insurance, you keep that insurance. Period, end of story.
Two points here. Obama and his family will never have to use this program because he will have the awesome insurance plan everyone in DC has for the rest of his life. He would not want to have to go on this plan if he had a choice. Secondly, if you have private insurance, yes, you can keep it. But if you don't, you have to go on this plan. Period. If you plan on changing jobs, you will not be able to get private insurance because employers won't cover you due to the higher cost to them. Hence, you will be forced on to Obamacare. Follow where this is going. Within 5 to 10 years, you will see the extinction of private insurance coverage. Now you have the entire US population on Obamacare within 10 years, just when the full effect of the Stimulus, Omnibus, and any other big money bill this administration plans to pass, will be felt. So now we have 300,000,000 people trying to get medical attention when there is no money. Also, there probably will be considerably less MDs since they have no incentive due to federal regulations on their salary. We're gonna be hurting.
Finally, opponents of health reform warn that this is all some big plot for socialized medicine or government-run health care with long lines and rationed care. That’s not true either. I don’t believe that government can or should run health care. But I also don’t think insurance companies should have free reign to do as they please.
Yet, you're still planning on making it a government-run program.
That’s why any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans – including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest – and choose what’s best for your family. And that’s why we’ll put an end to the worst practices of the insurance industry: no more yearly caps or lifetime caps; no more denying people care because of pre-existing conditions; and no more dropping people from a plan when they get too sick. No longer will you be without health insurance, even if you lose your job or change jobs.
You don't have to worry about all that because you will only have one option. Honest insurance companies will have closed their doors.
The good news is that people who knowthe system best are rallying to the cause of change. Just this past week, the American Nurses Association, representing millions of nurses across America, and the American Medical Association, representing doctors across our nation, announced their support because they’ve seen first-hand the need for health insurance reform.
The AMA no longer represents the majority of doctors anymore. More and more doctors are coming forward and saying they disagree with Obamacare. Apparently the AMA has sold out the profession.
They know we cannot continue to cling to health industry practices that are bankrupting families, and undermining American businesses, large and small. They know we cannot let special interests and partisan politics stand in the way of reform – not this time around.
Then why is it that NO Republicans will vote for this?
The opponents of health insurance reform would have us do nothing. But think about what doing nothing, in the face of ever increasing costs, will do to you and your family.
Again, this is not true. Everyone believes that Healthcare needs to be reformed. But it should not be a government provided system. And again, like tax reform, Republicans have offered up ideas for Healthcare reform. But the dems in power squash anything they say because they can.
So today, I am urging the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to seize this opportunity, and vote for reform that gives the American people the best care at the lowest cost (lie); that reins in insurance companies (lie), strengthens businesses (lie) and finally gives families the choices they need and the security they deserve (lie).
Thanks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This Healthcare Reform Bill coming up in a few weeks is important. Very important. I believe that people need affordable insurance coverage. My personal experience having had a liver transplant and dealing with the insurance costs over the next few years have lead me to believe that with a little financial responsibility anyone can afford to pay for a large surgical procedure with insurance coverage. Currently, people think you need to have a job to get insurance. That's not necessarily true. You can go get your own insurance on your own. I know people who do this. It might cost more per month than what you get with an employer, but that's just what you're not getting from your employer when they decide your hourly rate. Currently, however, this method can use plenty of improvement. Reform for healthcare could get rid of the employer involvement and make getting your own insurance much better. You don't need an employer for your car insurance.
There are many different options for reform. One that is government-run and universal is the wrong choice.
Call your representative. Tell them how you feel about this bill. I did. But we disagree, but I'm keeping the conversation going.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
What do you think?