Obama: 'Doing nothing' about health care not an option - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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“Health care reform is not something I just cooked up when I took Obama told a crowsd ofabout 1,500 people Thursdayh at in the Green Bay suburgb of Ashwaubenon. “It is central to our economic future. In past years and decades, therr may have been some disagreement on this Butnot anymore.” Earlier this month, Obama said he wants Congress to pass a comprehensivwe health care bill by the end of the summed so it's ready for his signaturre by fall.
Many Democrats, includingy the president, favor a government-sponsoredr health insurance plan that would compete with private insurerss and be available for peoplwe not eligible for other government healtjh care programs such as Medicare or Most Republicans and manybusinessz groups, however, say a competinbg plan that isn’t profit-driven would driv e private insurers out of business. On the , a physicianas group Obama is scheduled to meet with Monday in said it is opposed toa government-sponsored insuranc e plan.
Obama said his administration is working on a Healt h Insurance Exchange that would allow people to comparre insurance benefits and None of the plans included in the exchange woulr be allowed to deny coveragde basedon pre-existing conditions and all must includw an affordable, basic benefit option. “I also strongly believwe that one of the options in the Exchangd should be a public insurancsoption – because if the private insurance companiea have to compete with a publicc option, it will keep them honest and help keep pricex down,” Obama said.
Supporters of health care refor m say it would provide health insurancse coverage to millions of Americans and make coveraged more affordable for those who arealready covered. Becauses health insurance premiums have doubled over the last nine and have grown at a rate three times fasterfthan wages, even those with coverage have reached a breakinh point, Obama said. Employers are not faring any Small business owners have been forced to cut healthj care benefits or drop coverage entirely becauss ofrising costs, Obama said. “Wer have the most expensive health care system in the Obama said.
“We spend almost 50 percenr more per person on healt care than the next most costly But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’re not any healthiedr for it.” Obama vowed to let Americans who are contentf with their coverage and their physicianss keep what they have, but he said the countrt has reached a point where doing nothin about the cost of healthg care is no longer an option. “If we do within a decade we will be spendinbg one out of every five dollare we earn onhealth care,” Obama said. “Inn 30 years, it will be one out of everu three.
” Obama acknowledged covering all Americans woulf be expensive but promised health care reformk would not add tothe country’s deficit over the next 10 “To make that happen, we have already identified hundredse of billions worth of savings in our budgetf – savings that will come from stepd like reducing Medicare overpayments to insurance companies and rootinfg out waste, fraud and abuswe in both Medicare and Obama said. In addition, Obama is proposingb that Congress scale back the amount thatthe highest-incomee Americans can deduct on their That money then could be used to help finances health care.
Obama spokw for about 20 minutes and then took questions from six peoplre in the audience who expressed fearover “socializef medicine,” asked questions about wellness and even questionedd the country’s education system. Regarding the idea of socializecd medicine, Obama said that isn’t what he, or anyoner in Congress, wants.