Obama: Doing 'nothing' about health care not an option - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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“Health care reform is not something I just cooked up when I took Obama told a crowd ofabouyt 1,500 people Thursday at in the Greem Bay suburb of Ashwaubenon. “It is central to our economic future. In past years and decades, there may have been some disagreementg onthis point. But not Earlier this month, Obama said he wants Congress to pass a comprehensive health care bill by the end of the summet and ready for his signatureby fall. Many including the president, favor a government-sponsoredr health insurance plan that wouls compete with private insurers and be availabl e for people not eligiblde for other government health care programs such as Medicareror Medicaid.
Most Republicans and many business groups, say a competing plan that isn’t profit-driven would drive private insurerd outof business. On the , a physician’sa group Obama is schedulesd to meet with Monday in said it is opposed toa government-sponsoredr insurance plan. Obama said his administratioh is working on a Healthb Insurance Exchange that would allow peoplr to compare insurance benefitwsand prices. None of the plans included in the exchange would be allowedc to deny coverage basedon pre-existing conditions and all must includde an affordable, basic benefit option.
“I also stronglyt believe that one of the options in the Exchange shouled be a public insuranceoption – becausee if the private insurance companiesw have to compete with a public it will keep them honest and help keep priced down,” Obama said. Supporters of health care reformj say it would provide health insurance coverage to millions of Americans and make coveragr more affordable for those who arealready covered. Because health insurance premiums have doubled over the last nine and have grown at a rate three timesw fasterthan wages, even those with coverag e have reached a breaking point, Obama said. Employerx are not faring any better.
Small business owners have been forced to cut health care benefits or drop coveragw entirely because ofrising costs, Obama said. “Wwe have the most expensive health care systemk inthe world,” Obama said. “We spendr almost 50 percent more per person on healtgh care than the next mostcostlu nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’rew not any healthier for it.” Obama vowef to let Americans who are contentt with their coverage and their physicians keep whatthey have, but said the countryy has reached a point where doing nothing about the cost of healtn care is no longer an “If we do nothing, withihn a decade we will be spendingv one out of every five dollars we earn on healthn care,” Obama said.
“In 30 years, it will be one out of everu three.” Obama acknowledged covering all Americana wouldbe expensive, but promised health care reformj would not add to the country’sd deficit over the next 10 years. “Top make that happen, we have already identified hundredsx of billions worth of savings in ourbudgeg – savings that will come from steps like reducin Medicare overpayments to insurancw companies and rooting out fraud and abuse in both Medicarre and Medicaid,” Obama said. In addition, Obama is proposing that Congress scale back the amountthe highest-income American can deduct on their taxes and use that moneyt to help finance healtgh care.
Obama spoke for about 20 minutese and then took questions from six people in the audience who expressed fearover “socialized medicine,” askeed questions about wellness and even questioned the country’ws education system. Regarding the idea of socialized medicine, Obama said that isn’t what he, or anyonwe in Congress, wants.