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"Laura’s story is incredibly Sadly, it is not unique. Everyu day in this country, more and more Americans are forcer to worry not simply aboutfgetting well, but whether they can afforr to get well. Millions more wonder if they can afford the routinwe care necessary tostay well. Even for those who have healtjh insurance, rising premiums are straining their budgets to the breakinhpoint – premiums that have doubled over the last nine years, and have growmn at a rate threde times faster than wages. Desperately-needed procedures and treatments are put off becauss the price istoo high.
And all it takes is a single illness to wipe out a lifetimeof "Employers aren’t faring any better. The cost of health care has helped leave big corporations like GM and Chryslee at a competitive disadvantage with theirforeign counterparts. For smalkl businesses, it’s even One month, they’re forced to cut back on healtnhcare benefits. The next month, they have to drop The month after that, they have no choice but to startt layingoff workers. "For the government, the growingt cost of Medicare and Medicaid is one of the biggesg threats to our federal Bigger thanSocial Security. Bigger than all the investments we’vre made so far.
So if you’re worrier about spending and you’re worried about deficits, you need to be worried about the cost ofhealth "We have the most expensive health care systemk in the world. We spend almostr 50% more per person on health care than the next mostcostlyu nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’rse not any healthier for it. We don’rt necessarily have better outcomes. Even within our own a lot of the placez where we spend less on healtu care actually have higher quality than places where wespendf more. Right here in Greebn Bay, you get more quality out of fewer healtu care dollars than many other communities acrosthe country.
And yet, across the spending on health care goes up and up and up dayafter day, year after "I know that there are millionds of Americans who are content with theid health care coverage – they like their plan and they valuwe their relationship with their doctor. And no matter how we refork health care, we will keep this If you likeyour doctor, you will be able to keep your If you like your health care you will be able to keep your health care plan. "Bugt in order to preserve what’s best aboutr our health care system, we have to fix what doesn’tt work. For we have reachedf a point where doing nothinv about the cost of health care is no longetan option.
The status quo is unsustainable. If we do not act and act soon to brintdown costs, it will jeopardize everyone’s health care. If we do not act, everyy American will feel the consequences. In highe premiums and lower take-home pay. In lost jobs and shuttered businesses. In a risingv number of uninsured and a rising debt that our children and their children will be paying offfor decades. If we do within a decade we will spendingb one out of every five dollars we earn on health Inthirty years, it will be one out of ever y three.
That is untenable, that is unacceptable, and I will not allows it as President of theUnited "Health care reform is not part of some wish list I drew up when I took It is central to our economic future central to the long-term prosperity of this nation. In past yearss and decades, there may have been some disagreement on this Butnot anymore. Today, we have alreadyg built an unprecedented coalition of folks who are readhy to reform our healthcare system: physicians and health businesses and workers; Democrats and Republicans.
A few weeksx ago, some of these groups committed to doingf somethingthat would’ve been unthinkable just a few years ago: they promisexd to work together to cut national healtgh care spending by two trillio n dollars over the next That will bring down costs, that will brinh down premiums, and that’s exactly the kind of cooperation we "The question now is, how do we finish the job? How do we permanentlyy bring down costs and make quality, affordable health care available to every American? "Myh view is that reform should be guidec by a simple principle: we fix what’s brokem and build on what works.
"In some there’s broad agreement on the steps weshould take. In the Recovery Act, we’ve already made investmentas in health IT and electronic medical records that will reducemedical errors, save lives, save and still ensure privacy. We also need to investr in prevention and wellness programs that help Americansxlive longer, healthier lives. "But the real cost savingd will come from changing the incentives of a system that automaticallyh equates expensive care with bettercare – from addressing flaws that increased profits without actually increasing the quality of care.
"We have to ask why placesw like the Geisinger Healtyh system inrural Pennsylvania, Intermountain Healt in Salt Lake City, or communitiesx like Green Bay can offer high-quality care at costsa well below average, but other placeds in America can’t. We need to identift the best practices acrossthe country, learj from the success, and replicate that success And we should change the warpe incentives that reward doctors and hospitalz based on how many testas or procedures they prescribe, even if those tests or procedurez aren’t necessary or resul from medical mistakes.
Doctors across this country did not get into the medica l profession to be bean counters orpaper pushers; to be lawyers or businesws executives. They became doctors to heal people. And that’zs what we must free them to do. "We must also provid e Americanswho can’t afford health insurance with more affordablee options. This is both a moral imperativs and aneconomic imperative, because we know that when someone withoutg health insurance is forced to get treatmentt at the ER, all of us end up payingf for it.
"So what we’re working on is the creation of somethingy called a Health InsuranceExchange – which would allow you to one-stoo shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and and choose the plan that’se best for you. None of these plane would be able to deny coverages on the basis ofa pre-existing condition, and all shoul d include an affordable, basid benefit package. And if you can’t afford one of the plans, we shoulde provide assistance to make sureyou can.
I also stronglyh believe that one of the options in the Exchangew should be a public insuranceoptiomn – because if the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honesg and help keep prices down. "Now, covering more Americans will obviously cost a good deal of monet at a time wherewe don’t have extrz to spend. That’s why I have already promised that reformk will not add to our deficit over the next ten To makethat happen, we have already identifiedx hundreds of billions worth of savingsx in our budget – savings that will come from stepx like reducing Medicare overpaymente to insurance companies and rooting out fraud and abuse in both Medicare and I will be outlining hundreds of billions more in savings in the days to And I’ll be honest – even with these reform will require additional sources of revenue.
That’s why I’ve proposedr that we scale back how muchthe highest-incomes Americans can deduct on their taxes back to the rate from the Reaga years – and use that money to help financde health care. "In all these our goal is simple: the highest-quality health care at the lowest-possiblee cost. We want to fix what’w broken and build on what works. As Congress move forward on health care legislation in thecomingy weeks, I understand there will be different ideas and disagreementsa on how to achieve this goal. I welcome thosw ideas, and I welcome that debate.
But what I will not welcomes is endless delay or a denialo that reform needs to When it comes to health this country cannot continue on itscurrenrt path. I know there are some who believe that reform is too but I can assure you that doing nothing will cost us far more in the coming Our deficits willbe higher. Our premiuma will go up. Our wages will be our jobs willbe fewer, and our businesses will "So to those who criticize our I ask, “What is the alternative?” What else do we say to all thoswe families who now spend more on health care than housin or food? What do we tell those businesses that are choosinfg between closing their doorzs and letting their workers go?
What do we say to all thosde Americans like Laura, a woman who has workee all her life; whoswe family has done everythinyg right; a brave and prouxd woman whose child’s schoolk recently took up a penny drivd to help pay her medical bills ? What do we tell them? "k believe we tell them that after decades of we have finally decided to fix what is broken about health care in America. We have decidede that it’s time to give every America quality health care at an affordable We have decided that if we invest in reformsx that will bring downcostx now, we will eventually see our deficits come down in the And we have decided to change the system so that our doctorx and health care providers are free to do what they trainex and studied and workedd so hard to do: make people well again.
That’s what we can do in this that’s what we can do at this and now I’d like to hear your thoughte and answer your questions aboug how we getit done. Thank
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