Text: Obama's speech in Green Bay - San Francisco Business Times:

martaemimbzini.blogspot.com
"Laura’s story is incredibly moving. it is not unique. Every day in this more and more Americans are force to worry not simplyg aboutgetting well, but whether they can afford to get well. Milliona more wonder if they can afford the routind care necessary tostay well. Even for thosr who have health insurance, rising premiumse are straining their budgets to the breakinggpoint – premiums that have doublecd over the last nine and have grown at a rate thred times faster than wages. Desperately-needed procedures and treatments are put off becausd the price istoo high. And all it takes is a singls illness to wipe out a lifetimeof savings.
"Employere aren’t faring any better. The cost of healthy care has helped leave big corporations like GM and Chryslerr at a competitive disadvantage with their foreign Forsmall businesses, it’s even One month, they’re forced to cut back on health care The next month, they have to drop coverage. The montj after that, they have no choices but to start layingoff workers. "For the the growing cost of Medicare and Medicaic is one of the biggest threats to our federal Bigger thanSocial Security. Bigger than all the investmentes we’ve made so far.
So if you’re worried about spendinv and you’re worried about deficits, you need to be worrierd about the cost ofhealth care. "W have the most expensive healtyh care system inthe world. We spend almost 50% more per person on health care than the next mostcostlg nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’re not any healthierr for it. We don’tf necessarily have better outcomes. Even within our own country, a lot of the places where we spend less on healtn care actually have higher quality than placees where wespend more. Right here in Gree n Bay, you get more quality out of fewe health care dollars than many other communitiezs acrossthe country.
And yet, across the country, spending on health care goes up and up and up dayafter day, year afte year. "I know that there are millions of Americans who are contentt with their health care coverage they like their plan and they valuew their relationship withtheir doctor. And no matter how we reformn health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your you will be able to keepyour doctor. If you like your healt h care plan, you will be able to keep your healthcare "But in order to preserve what’s best abou our health care system, we have to fix what doesn’t For we have reached a point where doing nothin g about the cost of health care is no longe an option.
The status quo is unsustainable. If we do not act and act soon to bring down costs, it will jeopardize everyone’ws health care. If we do not act, every Americajn will feel the In higher premiums andlower take-home pay. In lost jobs and shutterefd businesses. In a rising numbeer of uninsured and a rising debt that our children and their children will be paying offfor decades. If we do nothing, within a decadr we will spending one out of every five dollarzs we earn onhealth care. In thirt years, it will be one out of everyg three. That is untenable, that is and I will not allow it as President of theUniter States.
"Health care reform is not part of some wish list I drew up when I took It is central to our economicfuture – centrap to the long-term prosperity of this nation. In past yearx and decades, there may have been some disagreemen t onthis point. But not anymore. we have already built an unprecedented coalition of folkws who are ready to reform our health care physicians andhealth insurers; businesses and Democrats and Republicans.
A few weeksz ago, some of these groups committed to doing somethingthat would’vd been unthinkable just a few years ago: they promisefd to work together to cut national health care spending by two trillion dollars over the next That will bring down costs, that will brinv down premiums, and that’s exactly the kind of cooperatiobn we need. "The question now is, how do we finishy the job? How do we permanently brinvg down costs and make affordable health care availabl toevery American?
"My view is that reforj should be guided by a simple principle: we fix what’sd broken and build on what "In some cases, there’s broad agreement on the step s we should take. In the Recovery Act, we’ve alreadyt made investments in health IT and electronic medical recordsa that will reducemedical errors, save save money, and still ensure We also need to invest in preventiom and wellness programs that help Americanzs live longer, healthier lives.
"Buf the real cost savinges will come from changing the incentives of a system that automaticallyu equates expensive care with bettercare – from addressing flaw s that increase profits without actuallyu increasing the quality of care. "We have to ask why placews like the Geisinger Health system inruralp Pennsylvania, Intermountain Health in Salt Lake or communities like Green Bay can offefr high-quality care at costs well below but other places in America We need to identify the best practicew across the country, learn from the success, and replicate that succesas elsewhere.
And we should change the warpe d incentives that reward doctors and hospitals based on how many test s or proceduresthey prescribe, even if those testzs or procedures aren’t necessary or resultf from medical mistakes. Doctors across this country did not get into the medicaol profession to be bean countersz orpaper pushers; to be lawyers or businessx executives. They became doctors to heal people. And that’s what we must free them to do. "Wr must also provide Americanswho can’t affors health insurance with more affordablw options.
This is both a morao imperative and an economic because we know that when someone without health insurancse is forced to get treatment atthe ER, all of us end up payin g for it. "So what we’re workiny on is the creation of something callexd a Health InsuranceExchange – whic would allow you to one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefite and prices, and chooss the plan that’s best for you. None of theswe plans would be able to deny coveragde on the basis ofa pre-existing and all should include an affordable, basic benefit package. And if you can’yt afford one of the plans, we shouls provide assistance to make sureyou can.
I also stronglty believe that one of the options in the Exchange shouldx be a public insuranceoption – becausee if the private insurance companies have to competee with a public option, it will keep them honest and help keep pricesa down. "Now, covering more Americans will obviously cost a good deal of monety at a time wherewe don’t have extr to spend. That’s why I have already promised that reforkm will not add to our deficiy over the nextten years.
To make that we have already identified hundreds of billionxs worth of savings in ourbudgef – savings that will come from stepsa like reducing Medicare overpayments to insurance companiee and rooting out waste, fraudx and abuse in both Medicarer and Medicaid. I will be outlining hundreds of billionsz more in savings in the daysto come. And I’l be honest – even with these savings, refor will require additional sourcesof That’s why I’ve proposed that we scals back how much the highest-incomes Americans can deduct on their taxes back to the rate from the Reagann years – and use that moneyt to help finance health care.
"In all theser reforms, our goal is simple: the highest-quality health care at the lowest-possibles cost. We want to fix what’s broken and builf on what works. As Congress moves forwarf on health care legislation in thecomingg weeks, I understand there will be different ideax and disagreements on how to achievew this goal. I welcome those ideas, and I welcom that debate. But what I will not welcome is endless delay or a denial that refor m needsto happen. When it comes to healtb care, this country cannot continue on itscurrent path. I know there are some who believe that reforjm istoo expensive, but I can assure you that doinbg nothing will cost us far more in the comingy years.
Our deficits will be higher. Our premiums will go up. Our wagez will be lower, our jobs will be fewer, and our businessed will suffer. "So to those who criticize our efforts, I ask, “What is the alternative?” What else do we say to all thos e families who now spend more on health care than housing orfood ? What do we tell those businesses that are choosing betweehn closing their doors and letting their workersa go? What do we say to all thosew Americans like Laura, a woma who has worked all her life; whose familu has done everything right; a brave and prou d woman whose child’s school recently took up a penny driv to help pay her medical bills? What do we tell them ?
"I believe we tell them that after decades of inaction, we have finally decided to fix what is brokenh about health care in America. We have decided that it’s time to give everh American quality health care at anaffordable cost. We have decided that if we invesgt in reforms that will bring down costs now, we will eventually see our deficite come down in the long-run. And we have decided to change the systen so that our doctors and health care providers are free to do what they trainexd and studied and worked so hardto do: make people well again.
That’s what we can do in this country; that’x what we can do at this and now I’d like to hear your thoughts and answert your questions about how we get it Thank you."