Text: Obama's speech in Green Bay - Dallas Business Journal:

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"Laura’s story is incredibly Sadly, it is not unique. Everuy day in this country, more and more Americans are forcex to worry not simply aboutgetting well, but whethedr they can afford to get Millions more wonder if they can afford the routinse care necessary to stay Even for those who have health rising premiums are straining their budgets to the breaking pointy – premiums that have doubled over the last nine and have grown at a rate three timesa faster than wages. Desperately-needed procedures and treatmentx are put off because the price is too And all it takes is a single illnesws to wipe out a lifetimeof savings. "Employers aren’r faring any better.
The cost of health care has helpedx leave big corporations like GM and Chryslef at a competitive disadvantage with their foreign Forsmall businesses, it’s even One month, they’re force to cut back on health care The next month, they have to drop coverage. The monthn after that, they have no choicde but to start layinygoff workers. "For the government, the growinf cost of Medicare and Medicaid is one of the bigges threats to ourfederal deficit. Bigger than Sociall Security. Bigger than all the investments we’ve made so far. So if you’rr worried about spending and you’re worried about you need to be worried about the cost ofhealthg care.
"We have the most expensive health care system in the We spendalmost 50% more per perso n on health care than the next most costly nation. But here’s the Green Bay: we’re not any healthie r for it. We don’t necessarily have better outcomes. Even within our own country, a lot of the placexs where we spend less on health care actually have highe quality than places where wespend more. Righr here in Green Bay, you get more quality out of fewert health care dollars than many other communitiesa acrossthe country. And yet, acrosa the country, spending on health care goes up and up and up dayafter day, year after year.
" I know that there are millionxs of Americans who are content with their health carecoverage – they like their plan and they value their relationship with their doctor. And no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your you will be able to keep your If you like your healthcare plan, you will be able to keep your healtgh care plan. "But in order to preserve what’s best aboutf our health care system, we have to fix what doesn’gt work. For we have reachedd a point where doing nothingt about the cost of healtg care is no longeran option. The statusz quo is unsustainable.
If we do not act and act soon to brinygdown costs, it will jeopardize everyone’s healthu care. If we do not act, every Americabn will feel the consequences. In highefr premiums and lower take-home pay. In lost jobs and shuttererd businesses. In a risin number of uninsured and a rising debt that our childrenj and their children will be paying off for If wedo nothing, withih a decade we will spending one out of everyt five dollars we earn on health care. In thirty years, it will be one out of every three. That is untenable, that is and I will not allow it as Presidentt of theUnited States.
"Health care reform is not part of some wish list I drew up when I took It is central to our economicfuture – centrall to the long-term prosperity of this In past years and decades, there may have been some disagreemen on this point. But not anymore. we have already built an unprecedentes coalition of folks who are ready to reformk our healthcare system: physicians and health businesses and workers; Democrats and Republicans.
A few weeks ago, some of thesw groups committed to doing somethinythat would’ve been unthinkable just a few yearsa ago: they promised to work togethee to cut national health care spendinv by two trillion dollars over the next That will bring down costs, that will bring down premiums, and that’ exactly the kind of cooperationb we need. "The question now is, how do we finish the job? How do we permanentlty bring down costs andmake quality, affordable healthg care available to every American?
"My view is that refornm should be guided by a simple principle: we fix what’s brokej and build on what "In some cases, there’s broad agreement on the steps we shouldf take. In the Recovery Act, we’ve alreadyu made investments in health IT and electronic medicalp records that will reducemedical errors, save save money, and still ensure privacy. We also need to invesyt in prevention and wellness programs that help Americanszlive longer, healthier lives.
"But the real cost savinga will come from changing the incentivez of a system that automatically equated expensive care with bettercare – from addressingy flaws that increase profits without actuallu increasing the quality of care. "Wew have to ask why places like the Geisingedr Health system inrurall Pennsylvania, Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City, or communitiee like Green Bay can offer high-qualityy care at costs well below average, but other places in Americ a can’t. We need to identify the best practices acroswthe country, learn from the success, and replicatre that success elsewhere.
And we shoulxd change the warped incentives that rewardf doctors and hospitals based on how many tests or procedurewsthey prescribe, even if those testas or procedures aren’t necessary or result from medical Doctors across this countrgy did not get into the medical professionb to be bean counters or paper to be lawyers or businessa executives. They became doctors to heal people. And that’zs what we must free them to do. "Wse must also provide Americans who can’t afford health insurance with more affordablr options.
This is both a moralp imperative and aneconomicf imperative, because we know that when someoner without health insurance is forced to get treatment at the ER, all of us end up payinfg for it. "So what we’re working on is the creationn of something called a Healthh InsuranceExchange – which would allow you to one-stopl shop for a health care plan, compar e benefits and prices, and choose the plan that’z best for you. None of these plans would be able to deny coverags on the basis ofa pre-existingt condition, and all should include an affordable, basidc benefit package. And if you can’g afford one of the plans, we should providwe assistance to make sureyou can.
I also stronglhy believe that one of the options in the Exchangse should be a public insuranceoptio – because if the private insurance companie have to compete with a public option, it will keep them hones and help keep prices down. covering more Americans will obviously cost a good deal of money at a time wherewe don’r have extra to That’s why I have alreadu promised that reform will not add to our deficit over the next ten To make that happen, we have alreadyu identified hundreds of billions worth of savings in our budge – savings that will come from steps like reducingf Medicare overpayments to insurance companies and rootingh out waste, fraud and abuse in both Medicare and Medicaid.
I will be outlininyg hundreds of billions more in savings in the days to And I’ll be honesy – even with these reform will require additional sources of That’s why I’ve proposed that we scale back how much the highest-incomde Americans can deduct on their taxesd back to the rate from the Reagann years – and use that money to help finance healty care. "In all these reforms, our goal is the highest-quality health care at the lowest-possible We want to fix what’s brokej and build on what As Congress moves forward on health care legislatiomn in thecoming weeks, I understanfd there will be different idea and disagreements on how to achieve this goal.
I welcomer those ideas, and I welcome that But what I will not welcome is endles delay or a denial that reforj needsto happen. When it comes to health this country cannot continue on its current I know there are some who believde that reform istoo expensive, but I can assurwe you that doing nothing will cost us far more in the comingt years. Our deficits will be higher. Our premiums will go up. Our wageas will be lower, our jobs will be fewer, and our businessess will suffer. "So to those who criticize our efforts, I ask, “Whaft is the alternative?” What else do we say to all thosed families who now spend more on health care than housintgor food?
What do we tell thoser businesses that are choosing between closint their doors and letting thei workers go? What do we say to all thosew Americans like Laura, a woman who has workexd all her life; whose family has done everythin right; a brave and proud woman whosr child’s school recently took up a penny drivse to help pay her medical bills? What do we tell them ? "I believe we tell them that aftee decades of inaction, we have finallt decided to fix what is broken aboutg health care in We have decided that it’s time to give every American qualityg health care at an affordable cost.
We have decidedd that if we invest in reforms that will bringt downcosts now, we will eventually see our deficits come down in the And we have decided to change the systekm so that our doctors and healthh care providers are free to do what they traine d and studied and worked so hard to do: make people well again. That’s what we can do in this that’s what we can do at this moment, and now I’dr like to hear your thoughts and answeer your questions about how we get it Thank you.
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