EMBARGOED: Remarks of President Barack Obama on Health Care Reform at the University of Iowa--As Prepared for Delivery

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________________________

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY

March 25, 2010

 

 

Remarks of President Barack Obama—As Prepared for Delivery

Health Care Reform

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Iowa City, Iowa

 

 

As Prepared for Delivery--

 

Hello, Iowa City!  Thank you Secretary Sebelius for that introduction, and for all the amazing and tireless work you’ve done to make health care reform a reality.  I also feel your pain.  In my bracket, I had Kansas winning the entire championship, so I’m a little bit bitter too.  But I want to congratulate all the Northern Iowa fans in this part of the state on their big win. 

 

I also want to start off by telling the folks here how inspired I’ve been by your continued resilience in the wake of the floods that devastated this region a few years back.  I know the rebuilding has been difficult, but you should know that you always have a committed partner in this Administration to support you on the road to recovery.

 

It is so good to be back in the great state of Iowa.  This is the state that believed in our campaign when all the pundits had written us off.  This is the state that inspired us to keep going, even when the path was uncertain.  And because of you, this is the place where change began. 

 

Three years ago, I came here to make a promise.  Just a few months into our campaign, I stood at the University of Iowa hospital right around the corner and promised that by the end of my first term in office, I would sign a health insurance reform bill. 

 

On Tuesday, after a year of debate and a century of trying, after so many of you shared your stories and your heartaches and your hopes, that promise was finally fulfilled.  And today, health insurance reform is the law of the land. 

 

Just like the campaign that led us here, this historic change did not begin in Washington.  It began in places just like this, with Americans just like you. 

 

It began when people had the courage to stand up at town hall meetings and talk about how insurance companies were denying their families coverage because of a pre-existing condition. 

 

It began when folks wrote letters about how premium hikes of 40% and 50% and 100% were forcing them to give up their insurance. 

 

It began when countless small business owners and families and doctors shared stories about a health care system that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people.

 

And now, this is your victory.  Because when the special interests sent an army of lobbyists to Congress and blanketed the airwaves with millions in negative ads, you mobilized and organized and refused to give up.  When the pundits were obsessing over who was up and who was down, you never lost sight of what was right and what was wrong.  You knew this wasn’t about the fortunes of any one party -- this was about the future of our country.  And today, because of what you did, that future looks stronger and more hopeful than it has in some time. 

 

Over the last year, there’s been a lot of misinformation spread about health care reform.  There has been plenty of fear-mongering and overheated rhetoric.  And if you turn on the news, you’ll see that those same folks are still shouting about how the world will end because we passed this bill.  This is not an exaggeration.  Leaders of the Republican Party have actually been calling the passage of this bill “Armageddon.” 

 

But from this day forward, all of the cynics and the naysayers will have to finally confront the reality of what this reform is and what it isn’t. 

 

They will have to finally acknowledge that this isn’t a government takeover of our health care system.  They will see that if Americans like their doctor, they will keep their doctor.  If people like their plan, they will keep their plan.  No one will be able to take that away from you.   

 

What this reform does is build on the system of private health insurance that we already have.  Will it solve every health care problem we have?  No.  But it finally tells the insurance companies that in exchange for all the new customers they’re about to get, they have to start playing by a new set of rules that treat everyone fairly and honestly.  The days of the insurance industry running roughshod over the American people are over. 

 

And so if you already have insurance, this reform will make it more secure and more affordable.  If you can’t afford insurance right now or have been denied coverage, you’ll finally be able to get it.  And costs will come down for families, businesses, and the federal government, reducing our deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next two decades.  That’s what reform will do. 

 

Now, it will take about four years to implement this entire plan – because we need to do it responsibly and we need to get it right.  That means that health care costs won’t go down overnight.  But we have built into the law all sorts of measures to assure that in years to come, health care inflation, which has been rising about three times as fast as people’s wages, will start slowing.  We’ll start reducing the waste in the system, from unnecessary tests to unwarranted insurance subsidies.  So over time, Americans will save money. 

 

Meanwhile, there are a set of reforms that will take effect this year.  This year, millions of small business owners will be eligible for tax credits that will help them cover the cost of insurance for their employees.  And let me talk about what this means for a business like your own Prairie Lights Bookstore downtown.  This is a small business that’s been offering coverage to their full-time employees for the last twenty years.  Last year their premiums went up 35%, which made it a lot harder for them to offer the same coverage.  On Tuesday, I was joined at the bill signing by Ryan Smith, who runs a small business with five employees.  His premiums are going up too, and he’s worried he’ll have to stop offering health insurance to his workers. 

 

Starting now, small business owners like Ryan and the folks at Prairie Lights will have the security of knowing that they could qualify for a tax credit that covers up to 35% of their employees’ health insurance.  Starting today, small business owners can sit down at the end of the week, look at their expenses, and begin calculating how much money they’re going to save.  And maybe they can even use that savings to hire that extra employee they’ve needed.  This health care tax credit is pro-jobs, it’s pro-business, and it starts this year. 

 

Starting this year, tens of thousands of uninsured Americans with a preexisting condition and parents whose children have a pre-existing condition will finally be able to purchase the coverage they need.  On Tuesday, I met David Gallagher, whose daughter Lauren had written me a letter last year.  When Lauren’s mom lost her job, their entire family lost their health insurance.  When they tried to get new insurance, David was denied coverage because he once had a complication-free hernia surgery.  Lauren’s been worried sick about what would happen if her father became ill or injured.  But now, because of this reform, David Gallagher can finally have access to health insurance again.  That starts this year.    

 

This year, insurance companies will no longer be able to drop people’s coverage when they get sick; or place lifetime limits or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care they can receive. 

 

This year, all new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care. 

 

For all the students here today, starting this year, if you don’t have insurance, all new plans and some current ones will allow you to stay on your parents’ insurance policy until you’re 26 years old.  Because as you start your lives and your careers, the last thing you should worry about is whether you’ll go broke just because you get sick. 

 

And this year, seniors who fall in the coverage gap known as the doughnut hole will receive $250 to help pay for prescriptions, which will be the first step toward closing that gap completely.  And I want seniors to know: despite what some have said, these reforms will not cut your guaranteed benefits.  In fact, under this law, Americans on Medicare will receive free preventive care, without co-payments or deductibles.  Darlyne Neff is here today.  She’s a breast cancer survivor, and she has fought her heart out for reform over the last few years.  Today, the preventive care she needs will finally be covered without any charge.  That’s what reform will do. 

 

Once this reform is implemented, health insurance exchanges will be created, a competitive marketplace where uninsured people and small businesses will finally be able to purchase affordable, quality insurance.  That will happen in the next few years.  And when this exchange is up and running, millions of people will get tax breaks to help them afford coverage – credits that add up to the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history. 

 

This is the reform that some folks in Washington are still hollering about.  And now that it’s passed, they’re already promising to repeal it.  They’re actually going to run on a platform of repeal in November. 

 

Well I say go for it.  If these Congressmen in Washington want to come here to Iowa and tell small business owners that they plan to take away their tax credits and essentially raise their taxes, be my guest.  If they want to look Lauren Gallagher in the eye and tell her they plan to take away her father’s health insurance, that’s their right.  If they want to make Darlyne Neff pay more money for her check-ups and her mammograms, they can run on that platform.  If they want to have that fight, I welcome that fight.  Because I don’t believe the American people are going to put the insurance industry back in the driver’s seat.  We’ve been there already and we’re not going back.  This country is ready to move forward. 

 

Iowa, the road to this victory has been long and it has been difficult.  It is a struggle that many brave Americans have waged for years.  For others, like our friend Ted Kennedy, it is a struggle that was waged for nearly a lifetime.

 

But what this struggle has taught us – about ourselves and about this country – is so much bigger than any one issue.  It has reminded us of what we learned all those months ago on a cold January night here in Iowa:  that change, while never easy, is always possible.  That it comes not from the halls of power, but from the hearts of our people.  Amid setbacks, it requires perseverance.  Amid calls for delay, it requires a sense of urgency.  And in the face of unrelenting cynicism, it requires unyielding hope. 

 

When I came here three years ago, I told the story of when Lyndon Johnson stood with Harry Truman and signed Medicare into law.  And as he looked out over the crowd in Independence, Missouri that day, he said, “History shapes men, but it is a necessary faith of leadership that men can help shape history.” 

 

What this generation has proven today is that we still have it within our power to shape history.  In the United States of America, it is still a necessary faith that our destiny will be written by us, not for us.  Our future is still what we make of it. 

 

Iowa, this is not the end of difficult times for America.  From creating jobs to reducing the deficit to giving every child a decent education, we still face enormous challenges in this country.  And as we meet those challenges, we will face more resistance.  We will face more doubt and more cynicism.  We will hear more voices who will warn us that we are reaching too far and too fast; who will tell us that we can’t. 

 

But when we do, let us remember the promise we have fulfilled, the people who fulfilled it, and the generations before us who made it possible; and let us respond with the creed that continues to define the character of this country we love:  Yes, we can. 

 

Thank you, Iowa, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. 

 

 

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EMBARGOED: Weekly Address: President Obama Urges Action on Financial Reform

 

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, March 20, 2010

WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Urges Action on Financial Reform

 

WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Barack Obama reiterated his call for comprehensive reforms to the financial system including commonsense rules of the road and a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that will advocate for everyday Americans. The President also urged the Senate to remain strong and resist the pressure of those who wish to preserve the status quo.

 

The audio and video will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 am ET, Saturday, March 20, 2010.

 

Remarks of President Barack Obama

As Prepared for Delivery

Weekly Address

March 20, 2010

 

On Monday, the Banking Committee of the United States Senate will debate a proposal to address the abuse and excess that led to the worst financial crisis in generations.  These reforms are essential.  As I’ve urged over the past year, we need common-sense rules that will our allow markets to function fairly and freely while reining in the worst practices of the financial industry.  That’s the central lesson of this crisis.  And we fail to heed that lesson at our peril.

 

Of course, there were many causes of the economic turmoil that ripped through our country over the past two years.  But it was a crisis that began in our financial system.  Large banks engaged in reckless financial speculation without regard for the consequences – and without tough oversight.  Financial firms invented and sold complicated financial products to escape scrutiny and conceal enormous risks.  And there were some who engaged in the rampant exploitation of consumers to turn a quick profit no matter who was hurt in the process. 

 

Now, I have long been a vigorous defender of free markets.  And I believe we need a strong and vibrant financial sector so that businesses can get loans; families can afford mortgages; entrepreneurs can find the capital to start a new company, sell a new product, offer a new service.  But what we have seen over the past two years is that without reasonable and clear rules to check abuse and protect families, markets don’t function freely.  In fact, it was just the opposite.  In the absence of such rules, our financial markets spun out of control, credit markets froze, and our economy nearly plummeted into a second Great Depression.

 

That’s why financial reform is so necessary.  And after months of bipartisan work, Senator Chris Dodd and his committee have offered a strong foundation for reform, in line with the proposal I previously laid out, and in line with the reform bill passed by the House. 

 

It would provide greater scrutiny of large financial firms to prevent any one company from threatening the entire financial system – and it would update the rules so that complicated financial products like derivatives are no longer bought and sold without oversight.  It would prevent banks from engaging in risky dealings through their own hedge funds – while finally giving shareholders a say on executive salaries and bonuses.  And through new tools to break up failing financial firms, it would help ensure that taxpayers are never again forced to bail out a big bank because it is “too big to fail.”

 

Finally, these reforms include a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to prevent predatory loan practices and other abuses to ensure that consumers get clear information about loans and other financial products before they sign on the dotted line.  Because this financial crisis wasn’t just the result of decisions made by large financial firms; it was also the result of decisions made by ordinary Americans to open credit cards and take on mortgages.  And while there were many who took out loans they knew they couldn’t afford, there were also millions of people who signed contracts they didn’t fully understand offered by lenders who didn’t always tell the truth.

 

This is in part because the job of protecting consumers is spread across seven different federal agencies, none of which has the interests of ordinary Americans as its principal concern.  This diffusion of responsibility has made it easier for credit card companies to lure customers with attractive offers then punish them in the fine print; for payday lenders and others who charge outrageous interest to operate without much oversight; and for mortgage brokers to entice homebuyers with low initial rates only to trap them with ballooning payments down the line. 

 

For these banking reforms to be complete – for these reforms to meet the measure of the crisis we’ve just been through – we need a consumer agency to advocate for ordinary Americans and help enforce the rules that protect them.  That’s why I won’t accept any attempts to undermine the independence of this agency.  And I won’t accept efforts to create loopholes for the most egregious abusers of consumers, from payday lenders to auto finance companies to credit card companies. 

 

Unsurprisingly, this proposal has been a source of contention with financial firms who like things just the way they are.  In fact, the Republican leader in the House reportedly met with a top executive of one of America’s largest banks and made thwarting reform a key part of his party’s pitch for campaign contributions.  And this week, the allies of banks and consumer finance companies launched a multimillion dollar ad campaign to fight against the proposal.  You might call this ‘air support’ for the army of lobbyists already arm twisting members of the committee to reject these reforms and block this consumer agency.  Perhaps that’s why, after months of working with Democrats, Republicans walked away from this proposal.  I regret that and urge them to reconsider.

 

The fact is, it’s now been well over a year since the near collapse of the entire financial system – a crisis that helped wipe out more than 8 million jobs and that continues to exact a terrible toll throughout our economy.  Yet today the very same system that allowed this turmoil remains in place.  No one disputes that.  No one denies that reform is needed.  So the question we have to answer is very simple: will we learn from this crisis, or will we condemn ourselves to repeat it?  That’s what’s at stake.

 

I urge those in the Senate who support these reforms to remain strong, to resist the pressure from those who would preserve the status quo, to stand up for their constituents and our country.   And I promise to use every tool at my disposal to see these reforms enacted: to ensure that the bill I sign into law reflects not the special interests of Wall Street, but the best interests of the American people.

 

Thank you.

EMBARGOED: Remarks of President Obama on Health Insurance Reform at George Mason University

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________________________

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY

March 19, 2010

 

Remarks of President Barack Obama on Health Insurance Reform – As Prepared for Delivery

George Mason University

Friday, March 19, 2010

 

 

Hello, George Mason! 

 

It is great to be back here with a group of real Patriots.  I first visited this university three years ago.  At the time, my campaign for the presidency was just a few weeks old.  We didn’t have much money or staff.  Our poll numbers were pretty low.  A lot of people still couldn’t pronounce my name, and most pundits didn’t think it was worth trying.   

 

But what we had even then was a group of students here at George Mason who believed that if we worked hard enough, and fought long enough, and organized enough supporters, we could finally bring change to that city across the river.  We believed back then that we could make Washington work – not for the lobbyists, not for the special interests, not for politicians, but for the American people. 

 

And that’s exactly what this health care vote is all about. 

 

A few miles from here, Congress is in the final stages of a fateful debate about the future of health insurance in America.  It is a debate that has raged not just for the past year, but for much of the past century.  It’s a debate that is not only about the cost of our health care but the character of our country – about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time; about whether we’re still a nation that gives its citizens a chance to reach their dreams.   

 

At the heart of this debate is the question of whether we will continue to accept a health care system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people.  Because if this vote fails, the insurance industry will continue to run wild in America.  They will continue to deny people coverage.  They will continue to deny people care.  They will continue to jack up premiums 40% or 50% or 60% as they have in the last few weeks without any accountability whatsoever.  They know this.  That’s why their lobbyists are stalking the halls of Congress as we speak.  That’s why they’re pouring millions of dollars into negative ads.  That’s why they’re doing everything they can to kill this bill. 

 

So the only question left is this:

 

Are we going to let the special interests win again?  Or are we going to make this vote a victory for the American people? 

 

George Mason, the time for reform is now. 

 

After a year of debate, every proposal has been put on the table.  Every argument has been made.  And we have incorporated the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans into a final proposal that builds on the system of private insurance that we currently have.  The insurance industry and its supporters in Congress have tried to portray this as radical change.  But what we’re talking about here is common-sense reform.   

 

If you like your doctor, you’ll be able to keep your doctor.  If you like your plan, you’ll be able to keep your plan.  Because I don’t believe we should give the government or the insurance companies more control over health care in America.  I believe it’s time to give you – the American people – more control over your health insurance. 

 

The proposal that Congress is about to vote on will do that in three ways:

 

First, we will finally end the worst practices of insurance companies.  Starting this year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will be able to purchase health insurance – some for the first time in their lives.  This year, insurance companies will be banned forever from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.  This year, they will be banned from dropping your coverage when you get sick.  Those practices will end. 

 

If this reform becomes law, all new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers – starting this year.  Starting this year, if you buy a new plan, there will be no more lifetime or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care you receive from your insurance companies.  And here’s what reform will mean for so many of the students who are here today:  starting this year, if you don’t have insurance, all new plans will allow you to stay on your parents’ insurance policy until you’re 26 years old.  Because as you start your lives and your careers, the last thing you should worry about is whether you’ll go broke just because you get sick. 

 

The second thing that would change about the current system is this: for the first time, small business owners and people who are being priced out of the insurance market will have the same kind of choice of private health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves.  For the first time, small business owners and middle-class families will be able to purchase affordable health insurance in a competitive marketplace.  And if you still can’t afford the insurance in this new marketplace, we will offer you tax credits to do so – tax credits that add up to the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history. 

 

Now, it’s true that all of this will cost money – about $100 billion per year.  But most of the cost comes from money that America’s already spending in the health care system – it’s just not all going to health care.  Instead, too much money is going toward waste, or fraud, or unwarranted subsidies for insurance companies.  With this plan, we’re going to make sure the dollars we spend go toward making insurance more affordable.  We’re going to eliminate wasteful taxpayer subsidies that currently go to insurance companies.  And we will set a new fee on insurance companies that stand to gain as millions of Americans are able to buy insurance.  Here’s the point: our proposal is paid for. 

 

Finally, my proposal would bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the federal government.  Americans buying comparable coverage to what they have today in the individual market would see premiums fall by 14 to 20 percent.  For Americans who get their insurance through the workplace, costs could be as much as $3,000 a person less than they would be if we do nothing.  Altogether, our cost-cutting measures would reduce most people’s premiums and bring down our deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next two decades.  And those aren’t my numbers; they are the savings determined by the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan, independent referee of Congress. 

 

So this is our proposal.  This is what the United States Congress is about to vote on this weekend.  And of course, all that Washington can talk about is the politics of the vote.  What does it mean for November?  What does it mean for our poll numbers?  What does it mean for the Democrats or the Republicans? 

 

I’ll confess – I don’t know how this plays politically.  Nobody really does.  But what I do know what it will mean for America’s future.  I don’t know what impact reform will have on our poll numbers.  But I know the impact it will have on the millions of Americans who need our help. 

 

I know what reform will mean for people like Leslie Banks, a single mom from Pennsylvania who’s trying to put her daughter through college.  Her insurance company just sent her a letter saying they plan to double her premiums this year – double her premiums.  Leslie Banks needs us to pass this bill. 

 

I know what reform will mean for people like Laura Klitzka.  Laura thought she had beaten her breast cancer but later discovered it spread to her bones.  She and her husband had insurance but their medical bills still landed them in debt, and now she spends her time worrying about that debt when all she wants to do is spend time with her two children.  Laura Klitzka needs us to pass this bill. 

 

And I know what reform will mean for people like Natoma Canfield.  When her insurance company raised her rates, Natoma was forced to give up her coverage, even though she was scared as anything that a sudden illness would lead to financial ruin.  And now she’s lying in a hospital bed, faced with just such an illness, praying that she can somehow afford to get well.  Natoma Canfield knows that the time for reform is now. 

 

George Mason, the time for reform is now. 

 

In just a few days, a century-long struggle will culminate in an historic vote.  And when we have faced such decisions in our past, this nation has chosen time and again to extend its promise to more of its people. 

 

When the naysayers argued that Social Security would lead to socialism, the men and women of Congress stood fast, and created a program that has lifted millions of poverty. 

 

When the cynics warned that Medicare would lead to a government takeover of our entire health care system, and it didn’t have much support in the polls, Democrats and Republicans refused to back down, and made sure that all of us could enter our golden years with some basic peace of mind. 

 

Generations ago, those who came before made the decision that our seniors and our poor should not be forced to go without health care just because they couldn’t afford it.  Today, it falls to this generation to decide whether we will make the same promise to middle-class families, and small businesses, and young Americans like yourselves who are just starting out. 

 

I know this has been a difficult journey.  I know this will be a tough vote.  I know that Washington has treated this debate like a sport.  But I also remember a quote I saw on a plaque in the White House the other day.  It’s hanging in the same room where I demanded answers from the insurance executives, and received only excuses.  It’s a quote from Teddy Roosevelt, who first called for health care reform all those years ago.  It says, “Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords.” 

 

George Mason, I don’t know how passing health care will play politically.  But I know it’s right.  Teddy Roosevelt knew it was right.  Harry Truman knew it was right.  Our dear friend Ted Kennedy – he knew more than anyone that this is right. 

 

And if you believe it’s right too, I need you to help us finish the fight that they started.  I need you to stand with me.  Just like I did when I came here three years ago at the beginning of our campaign, I need you to knock on doors, and talk to your neighbors, and pick up the phone, and make your voices heard so that they can hear you on the other side of the river.  I still believe we can do what’s right.  I still believe we can do what’s hard.  The need is great.  The opportunity is here.  And the time for reform is now.  Thank you. 

 

 

 

##

EMBARGOED: Remarks of President Obama on Health Insurance Reform in Strongsville, Ohio

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________________________

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY

March 15, 2010

 

 

Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery

Monday, March 15, 2010

Strongsville, Ohio

 

Hello, Ohio!  It’s great to be here in the Buckeye State.  And it’s even better to be out of Washington for a little while.

 

I want to thank Connie and her family for being here on behalf of Natoma.  It’s not easy to share such a personal story.  I appreciate your willingness to do so.  I want you to know that she is the reason that I am here today.  I know that she felt it was important that her story be told.

 

Last month, I read a letter from Natoma.  She’s self-employed, trying to make ends meet, and has for years done the responsible thing: buying health insurance through the individual market. 

 

The thing is, sixteen years ago, she was diagnosed with a form of treatable cancer.  And even though she had been cancer free for more than a decade, the insurance company kept jacking up her rates anyway, year after year.  So she increased her out-of-pocket expenses.  She raised her deductible.  She was doing everything she could to maintain health insurance that would be there for her in case she got sick.

 

But even as she upped her deductible to the maximum, last year Natoma’s insurance company raised her premiums by more than 25 percent.  Over the past year, she paid more than $6,000 in monthly premiums.  She paid more than $4,000 out-of-pocket for co-pays, medical care, and prescriptions.  So she ponied up more than $10,000 dollars.  But because she never hit her deductible, her insurer only spent $900 on her care.  And yet what comes in the mail at the end of last year?  A letter telling Natoma that her premiums would go up again by more than 40 percent. 

 

She just could not afford it.  She didn’t have the money.  And despite her desire to keep her coverage – despite her fears that she would get sick and lose the home her parents built – she finally surrendered and gave up her health insurance.  January was her last month of being insured.  Like so many responsible Americans – folks who work hard every day, who try to do the right thing – she was forced to hang her fortunes on chance.  She hoped against hope she would stay healthy.  She feared terribly she would not.

 

That was the letter.  And I understand Natoma was pretty surprised when she found out that I read it – word for word – to the CEOs of America’s largest insurance companies – including the company that hiked up her rates by more than 40 percent. 

 

This was less than two weeks ago.  But then Natoma’s worst fears were realized.  Just last week, she was working on a nearby farm, walking outside – apparently, chasing after a cow – when she collapsed.  She was rushed to the hospital.  She was very sick.  She needed two blood transfusions.  Doctors performed a battery of tests.  And on Saturday, Natoma was diagnosed with leukemia – a serious form of cancer. 

 

The reason Natoma is not here today is that she’s lying in a hospital bed, suddenly faced with this emergency – suddenly thrust into a fight for her life.  She expects to face a month or more of aggressive chemotherapy.  And she is racked with worry not only about her illness but about the cost of the tests and treatments she will surely need to beat it.

 

I’m here because of Natoma. 

 

I’m here because of countless others who have been forced to face the hardest and most terrifying challenges in their lives with the added burden of medical bills they cannot pay. 

 

I’m here because I remember my own mother, in the last six months of her life, on the phone in her hospital room arguing with insurance companies when she should have been spending time with her family. 

 

I’m here because of the millions denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions – or dropped from coverage when they get sick. 

 

I’m here because of the small businesses forced to choose between health care and hiring.

 

I’m here because of the seniors unable to afford the prescriptions they need. 

 

I’m here because of the folks seeing premiums going up by thirty, forty, fifty percent in a year. 

 

I am here because this is not the America I believe in – and it’s not the America you believe in.

 

And so when you hear people say “start over” – I want you to think of Natoma.  When you hear people saying that this isn’t the “right time” – think of what she’s going through.  When you hear people talk about who’s up and who’s down in the polls – instead of what’s right or what’s wrong for the country – think of her and the millions of responsible people – working people – being hurt by today’s system of health insurance.  And I want you to remember: There but for the grace of God go I. 

 

This status quo on health care is simply unsustainable.  We cannot have a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people.  We know what will happen if we fail to act.  We know our government will be plunged deeper into debt.  We know millions more people will lose coverage.  And we know that rising costs will saddle millions more families with unaffordable expenses – and will force many small businesses to drop coverage altogether.  A study just came out yesterday – a non-partisan study – which found that without reform, premiums could more than double for individuals and families over the next decade.  Family policies could pass $25,000.  Can you afford that? 

 

We have debated health care in Washington for more than a year.  Every proposal has been put on the table.  Every argument has been made.  I know many people view this as a partisan issue, but both parties have found plenty of areas where we agree.  And what we’ve ended up with is a proposal that’s somewhere in the middle – one that incorporates the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans. 

 

On one side of the spectrum, there were those who wanted to scrap our system of private insurance and replace it with government-run health care.  But I didn’t think that was practical or realistic. 

 

On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who believe the answer is to simply unleash the insurance industry, by providing less oversight and fewer rules.  I call this the “putting the foxes in charge of the hen house” approach.  It would only give insurance companies more leeway to raise premiums and deny care. 

 

I don’t believe we should give the government or the insurance companies more control over health care in America.  I believe it’s time to give you – the American people – more control over your own health insurance. 

 

That’s why my proposal builds on the current system where most Americans get their health insurance from their employer.  If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.  If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.  I wouldn’t want any plan that interferes with the relationship between a family and their doctor.

 

Essentially, my proposal would change three things about the current health care system.  First, it would end the worst practices of insurance companies.  Within the first year of signing health care reform, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will be able to purchase health insurance for the first time in their lives.  This year, insurance companies will be banned forever from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.  This year, they will be banned from dropping your coverage when you get sick.  Those practices will end. 

 

If this reform becomes law, all new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers starting this year – free check-ups so we can start catching preventable illnesses on the front end.  Starting this year, if you buy a new plan, there will be no more lifetime or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care you receive from your insurance companies.  And if you’re an uninsured young adult, you’ll be able to stay on your parents’ policy until you’re 26 years old. 

 

The second thing that would change about the current system is this: for the first time, uninsured individuals and small businesses will have the same kind of choice of private health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves.  If this reform becomes law, Members of Congress will be getting their insurance from the same place the uninsured get theirs.  Because if it’s good enough for the American people, it ought to be good enough for the people you send to Washington. 

 

My proposal also says that if you still can’t afford the insurance in this new marketplace, we will offer you tax credits to do so – tax credits that add up to the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history.  After all, the wealthiest among us can already buy the best insurance there is, and the least well-off are able to get coverage through Medicaid.  But it’s the middle-class that gets squeezed, and that’s who we have to help. 

 

Now, it’s true that all of this will cost money – about $100 billion per year.  But most of this comes from the nearly $2.5 trillion a year that America already spends on health care.  It’s just that right now, a lot of that money is being spent badly.  With this plan, we’re going to make sure the dollars we spend go toward making insurance more affordable and more secure.  We’re also going to eliminate wasteful taxpayer subsidies that currently go to insurance companies.  And we will set a new fee on insurance companies that stand to gain as millions of Americans are able to buy insurance.  Here’s the point: our proposal is paid for. 

 

Finally, my proposal would bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the federal government.  Americans buying comparable coverage to what they have today in the individual market would see premiums fall by 14 to 20 percent.  For Americans who get their insurance through the workplace, costs could fall by as much as $3,000 a person. 

 

By now, we have incorporated most of the serious ideas from across the political spectrum about how to contain the rising cost of health care – ideas that go after the waste and abuse in our system, especially in programs like Medicare.  Our cost-cutting measures would reduce most people’s premiums and bring down our deficit by up to $1 trillion over the next two decades.  And those aren’t my numbers; they are the savings determined by the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan, independent referee of Congress. 

 

Now, the opponents of reform have tried a lot of different arguments to stop these changes.  But maybe the most insidious is the idea that somehow this would hurt Medicare.  And I know we’ve got some seniors with us today.  So let me just tell you directly: this proposal adds almost a decade of solvency to Medicare.  This proposal would close that gap in prescription drug coverage – called the doughnut hole – that sticks seniors with thousands of dollars in drug costs.  This proposal will over time help to reduce the costs of Medicare that you pay every month.  And this proposal would make preventive care free so you don’t have to pay out-of-pocket for tests that keep you healthy. 

 

Yes, we are going after the waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare.  But that’s because these are dollars that should be spent on care for seniors, not the care and feeding of insurance companies through subsidies and sweetheart deals.  Every senior should know: there is no cutting of your guaranteed Medicare benefits.  Period.  This proposal makes Medicare stronger, makes the coverage better, and makes its finances more secure.  Anyone who says otherwise is misinformed – or is trying to misinform you. 

 

So that’s the proposal.  And I believe Congress owes the American people a final up-or-down vote.  Of course, now that we’re approaching this vote, we’re hearing a lot of people in Washington talking about the politics.  Talking about what this means for November.  Talking about the poll numbers for the Democrats and the Republicans.  But that’s why I wanted to come here today. 

 

Because in the end, this debate is about far more than the politics.  It's about what kind of country we want to be.  It’s about the millions of lives that would be touched and, in some cases, saved by making private health insurance more secure and more affordable.  It’s about a woman, lying in a hospital bed, who wants nothing more than to be able to pay for the care she needs.

 

And the truth is, what is at stake in this debate is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.  The American people want to know if it's still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future.  They are waiting for us to act.  They are waiting for us to lead.  And as long as I hold this office, I intend to provide that leadership.  I don’t know about the politics.  But I know what’s right.  So I am calling on Congress to pass these reforms – and I look forward to signing them into law. 

 

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. 

 

 

 

##

 

EMBARGOED: Weekly Address: President Obama to Send Updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act Blueprint To Congress on Monday

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, March 13, 2010

WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama to Send Updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act Blueprint To Congress on Monday

 

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that on Monday, his administration will send to Congress the blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act that will overhaul No Child Left Behind.  The plan will set the ambitious goal of ensuring that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and a career, and it will provide states, districts and schools with the flexibility and resources to reach that goal. 

 

The audio and video will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 am ET, Saturday, March 13, 2010.

 

Remarks of President Barack Obama

As Prepared for Delivery

Weekly Address

March 13, 2010

 

Lost in the news of the week was a headline that ought to be a source of concern for every American.  It said, “Many Nations Passing U.S. in Education.”   Now, debates in Washington tend to be consumed with the politics of the moment: who’s up in the daily polls; whose party stands to gain in November.  But what matters to you – what matters to our country – is not what happens in the next election, but what we do to lift up the next generation.  And the fact is, there are few issues that speak more directly to our long term success as a nation than issues concerning the education we provide to our children. 

 

Our prosperity in the 20^th century was fueled by an education system that helped grow the middle class and unleash the talents of our people more fully and widely than at any time in our history.  We built schools and focused on the teaching of math and science.  We helped a generation of veterans go to college through the GI Bill.  We led the globe in producing college graduates, and in turn we led in producing ground-breaking technologies and scientific discoveries that lifted living standards and set us apart as the world’s engine of innovation. 

 

Of course, other nations recognize this, and are looking to gain an edge in the global marketplace by investing in better schools, supporting teachers, and committing to clear standards that will produce graduates with more skills.  Our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow.  Yet, too often we have failed to make inroads in reforming and strengthening our public education system – the debate mired in worn arguments hurled across entrenched divides. 

 

As a result, over the last few decades, we’ve lost ground.  One assessment shows American fifteen year olds no longer even near the top in math and science when compared to their peers around the world.  As referenced in the news report I mentioned, we’ve now fallen behind most wealthy countries in our high school graduation rates.  And while we once led the world in the proportion of college graduates we produced, today we no longer do. 

 

Not only does that risk our leadership as a nation, it consigns millions of Americans to a lesser future.  For we know that the level of education a person attains is increasingly a prerequisite for success and a predictor of the income that person will earn throughout his or her life.  Beyond the economic statistics is a less tangible but no less painful reality: unless we take action – unless we step up – there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential. 

 

I don’t accept that future for them.  And I don’t accept that future for the United States of America.  That’s why we’re engaged in a historic effort to redeem and improve  our public  schools: to raise the expectations for our students and for ourselves, to recognize and reward excellence, to improve performance in troubled schools, and to give our kids and our country the best chance to succeed in a changing world.

 

Under the leadership of an outstanding Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, we launched a Race to the Top, through which states compete for funding by committing to reform and raising standards, by rewarding good teaching, by supporting the development of better assessments to measure results, and by emphasizing math and science to help prepare children for college and careers. 

 

And on Monday, my administration will send to Congress our blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind.  What this plan recognizes is that while the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the reforms and high standards we need, the impetus for that change will come from states, and from local schools and school districts.  So, yes, we set a high bar – but we also provide educators the flexibility to reach it. 

 

Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down.  For the majority of schools that fall in between – schools that do well but could do better – we will encourage continuous improvement to help keep our young people on track for a bright future: prepared for the jobs of the 21^st century. And because the most important factor in a child’s success is the person standing at the front of the classroom, we will better prepare teachers, support teachers, and encourage teachers to stay in the field.  In short, we’ll treat the people who educate our sons and daughters like the professionals they are.

 

Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career – no matter who you are or where you come from.  Achieving this goal will be difficult. It will take time.  And it will require the skills, talents, and dedication of many: principals, teachers, parents, students.  But this effort is essential for our children and for our country.  And while there will always be those cynics who claim it can’t be done, at our best, we know that America has always risen to the challenges that we’ve faced.  This challenge is no different. 

 

As a nation, we are engaged in many important endeavors: improving the economy, reforming the health care system, encouraging innovation in energy and other growth industries of the 21^st century.  But our success in these efforts – and our success in the future as a people – will ultimately depend on what happens long before an entrepreneur opens his doors, or a nurse walks the rounds, or a scientist steps into her laboratory.  Our future is determined each and every day, when our children enter the classroom, ready to learn and brimming with promise. 

 

It’s that promise we must help them fulfill.  Thank you.

 

 

EMBARGOED: Weekly Address: Health Reform Will Benefit American Families and Businesses This Year

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, March 6, 2010

WEEKLY ADDRESS: Health Reform Will Benefit American Families and Businesses This Year

 

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama said that Congress owes the country an up-or-down vote on health reform and he described how more American families will have more control over their health care this year after health reform passes.  The proposal the President has put forward includes tax credits for small businesses to purchase coverage, making it possible for people with pre-existing conditions to purchase coverage, and stopping insurance companies from imposing lifetime caps or annual limits to the amount of care people receive, among other reforms.

 

The audio and video will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 am ET, Saturday, March 6, 2010.

 

Remarks of President Barack Obama

As Prepared for Delivery

Weekly Address

March 6, 2010

 

This week, I asked Congress to schedule a final vote on reform that will give families and businesses more control over their health care by holding insurance companies more accountable.  This comes after nearly a year of debate, as well as a seven hour summit with Democrats and Republicans where we had a public and substantive discussion on health care.  Since then, I’ve said that I’m willing to incorporate some ideas offered by Republicans, and we’re eliminating special provisions that had no place in health care reform.

 

Now, despite all the progress and improvements we’ve made, Republicans in Congress insist that the only acceptable course on health care is to start over.  But you know what?  The insurance companies aren’t starting over.  I just met with some of them on Thursday and they couldn’t give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums – by as much as 60% in states like Illinois.  If we do not act, they will continue to do this.  They will continue to drop people’s coverage when they need it.  They will continue to refuse coverage based on pre-existing conditions.  These practices will continue. 

 

That’s why we must act now.  That’s why the United States Congress owes the American people an up-or-down vote on health insurance reform. 

 

The proposal we’ve put forward would end the worst practices of the insurance industry, lower costs for millions of Americans, and give uninsured individuals and small businesses the same kind of choice of private health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves.  And while it will take a few years to fully implement these reforms, there are numerous protections and benefits that would start to take effect this year. 

 

This year, small business owners will receive tax credits to purchase health insurance.

 

This year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will finally be able to purchase coverage.  Insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.  And they will no longer be allowed to drop your coverage when you get sick. 

      

This year, all new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers – so that we can start catching preventable illnesses and diseases on the front end.  There will no longer be lifetime limits or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care you receive.  Young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance policy until they’re 26 years old.  And there will be a new, independent appeals process for anyone who feels they were unfairly denied a claim by their insurance company. 

 

Finally, seniors who fall into the gap in coverage known as the donut hole will receive $250 to help them pay for their prescriptions.  

 

What won’t change when this bill is signed this:  if you like the insurance plan you have now, you can keep it.  If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.  Because nothing should get in the way of the relationship between a family and their doctor.  

 

If we act now, all of this will happen this year.  Millions of lives will improve.  Some will be saved.  Many families and small business owners will have health insurance for the very first time in their lives.  Doctors and patients will have more control over their health care decisions, and insurance company bureaucrats will have less.  This future is within our grasp.  

 

But we also know what the future will look like if we don’t act – if we let this opportunity pass for another year, or another decade, or another generation.   More Americans will lose their family’s health insurance if they switch jobs or lose their job.  More small businesses will be forced to choose between health care and hiring.  More insurance companies will raise premiums and deny coverage.  And the rising cost of Medicare and Medicaid will sink our government deeper and deeper into debt.

 

I don’t accept that future for the United States of America.  I know it has been a long and hard road to this point.  And we are not finished with our journey just yet.  But we are close.  We are very close.  And so I ask Congress to finish its work.  I ask them to give the American people an up or down vote.  And let’s show our citizens that it’s still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future.  Thanks for listening. 

 

EMBARGOED FOR DELIVERY: Remarks of President Barack Obama on Health Insurance Reform

THE WHITE HOUSE

 

Office of the Press Secretary

_____________________________________________________________________________

EMBARGOED FOR DELIVERY                           March 3, 2010

 

 

EMBARGOED: Remarks of President Barack Obama on Health Insurance Reform

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Washington, DC

 

Please find below President Obama’s remark as prepared for delivery in the East Room this afternoon. The remarks are embargoed for delivery:

 

Good afternoon.  We began our push to reform health insurance last March with the doctors and nurses who know the system best, and so it is fitting to be joined by all of you as we bring this journey to a close.    

 

Last Thursday, I spent seven hours at a summit where Democrats and Republicans engaged in a public and substantive discussion about health care.  This meeting capped off a debate that began with a similar summit nearly one year ago.  Since then, every idea has been put on the table.  Every argument has been made.  Everything there is to say about health care has been said and just about everyone has said it.  So now is the time to make a decision about how to finally reform health care so that it works, not just for the insurance companies, but for America’s families and businesses.

 

Where both sides say they agree is that the status quo is not working for the American people.  Health insurance is becoming more expensive by the day.  Families can’t afford it.  Businesses can’t afford it.  The federal government can’t afford it.  Smaller businesses and individuals who don’t get coverage at work are squeezed especially hard.  And insurance companies freely ration health care based on who’s sick and who’s healthy; who can pay and who can’t.

 

Democrats and Republicans agree that this is a serious problem for America.  And we agree that if we do nothing – if we throw up our hands and walk away – it’s a problem that will only grow worse.  More Americans will lose their family’s health insurance if they switch jobs or lose their job.  More small businesses will be forced to choose between health care and hiring.  More insurance companies will deny people coverage who have preexisting conditions, or drop people’s coverage when they get sick and need it most.  And the rising cost of Medicare and Medicaid will sink our government deeper and deeper into debt.  On all of this we agree. 

 

So the question is, what do we do about it? 

 

On one end of the spectrum, there are some who have suggested scrapping our system of private insurance and replacing it with government-run health care.  Though many other countries have such a system, in America it would be neither practical nor realistic.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those, including most Republicans in Congress, who believe the answer is to loosen regulations on the insurance industry – whether it’s state consumer protections or minimum standards for the kind of insurance they can sell.  I disagree with that approach.  I’m concerned that this would only give the insurance industry even freer rein to raise premiums and deny care.

 

I don’t believe we should give government bureaucrats or insurance company bureaucrats more control over health care in America.  I believe it’s time to give the American people more control over their own health insurance.  I don’t believe we can afford to leave life-and-death decisions about health care to the discretion of insurance company executives alone.  I believe that doctors and nurses like the ones in this room should be free to decide what’s best for their patients. 

 

The proposal I’ve put forward gives Americans more control over their health care by holding insurance companies more accountable.  It builds on the current system where most Americans get their health insurance from their employer.  If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.  If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.  Because I can tell you that as the father of two young girls, I wouldn’t want any plan that interferes with the relationship between a family and their doctor. 

 

Essentially, my proposal would change three things about the current health care system:

 

First, it would end the worst practices of insurance companies.  No longer would they be able to deny your coverage because of a pre-existing condition.  No longer would they be able to drop your coverage because you got sick.  No longer would they be able to force you to pay unlimited amounts of money out of your own pocket.  No longer would they be able to arbitrarily and massively raise premiums like Anthem Blue Cross recently tried to do in California.  Those practices would end. 

 

Second, my proposal would give uninsured individuals and small business owners the same kind of choice of private health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves.  Because if it’s good enough for Members of Congress, it’s good enough for the people who pay their salaries.  The reason federal employees get a good deal on health insurance is that we all participate in an insurance marketplace where insurance companies give better rates and coverage because we give them more customers.  This is an idea that many Republicans have embraced in the past.  And my proposal says that if you still can’t afford the insurance in this new marketplace, we will offer you tax credits to do so – tax credits that add up to the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history.  After all, the wealthiest among us can already buy the best insurance there is, and the least well-off are able to get coverage through Medicaid.  But it’s the middle-class that gets squeezed, and that’s who we have to help. 

 

Now, it’s true that all of this will cost money – about $100 billion per year.  But most of this comes from the nearly $2 trillion a year that America already spends on health care.  It’s just that right now, a lot of that money is being wasted or spent badly.  With this plan, we’re going to make sure the dollars we spend go toward making insurance more affordable and more secure.  We’re also going to eliminate wasteful taxpayer subsidies that currently go to insurance and pharmaceutical companies, set a new fee on insurance companies that stand to gain as millions of Americans are able to buy insurance, and make sure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of Medicare. 

 

The bottom line is, our proposal is paid for.  And all new money generated in this plan would go back to small businesses and middle-class families who can’t afford health insurance.  It would lower prescription drug prices for seniors.  And it would help train new doctors and nurses to provide care for American families.

 

Finally, my proposal would bring down the cost of health care for millions – families, businesses, and the federal government.  We have now incorporated most of the serious ideas from across the political spectrum about how to contain the rising cost of health care – ideas that go after the waste and abuse in our system, especially in programs like Medicare.  But we do this while protecting Medicare benefits, and extending the financial stability of the program by nearly a decade.    

 

Our cost-cutting measures mirror most of the proposals in the current Senate bill, which reduces most people’s premiums and brings down our deficit by up to $1 trillion over the next two decades.  And those aren’t my numbers – they are the savings determined by the CBO, which is the Washington acronym for the nonpartisan, independent referee of Congress. 

 

So this is our proposal.  This is where we’ve ended up.  It’s an approach that has been debated and changed and I believe improved over the last year.  It incorporates the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans – including some of the ideas that Republicans offered during the health care summit, like funding state grants on medical malpractice reform and curbing waste, fraud, and abuse in the health care system.  My proposal also gets rid of many of the provisions that had no place in health care reform – provisions that were more about winning individual votes in Congress than improving health care for all Americans. 

 

Now, despite all that we agree on and all the Republican ideas we’ve incorporated, many Republicans in Congress just have a fundamental disagreement over whether we should have more or less oversight of insurance companies.  And if they truly believe that less regulation would lead to higher quality, more affordable health insurance, then they should vote against the proposal I’ve put forward.

 

Some also believe that we should instead pursue a piecemeal approach to health insurance reform, where we just tinker around the edges of this challenge for the next few years.  Even those who acknowledge the problem of the uninsured say that we can’t afford to help them – which is why the Republican proposal only covers three million uninsured Americans while we cover over 31 million.  But the problem with that approach is that unless everyone has access to affordable coverage, you can’t prevent insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions; you can’t limit the amount families are forced to pay out of their own pockets; and you don’t do anything about the fact that taxpayers end up subsidizing the uninsured when they’re forced to go to the Emergency Room for care.  The fact is, health reform only works if you take care of all these problems at once. 

 

Both during and after last week’s summit, Republicans in Congress insisted that the only acceptable course on health care reform is to start over.  But given these honest and substantial differences between the parties about the need to regulate the insurance industry and the need to help millions of middle-class families get insurance, I do not see how another year of negotiations would help.  Moreover, the insurance companies aren’t starting over.  They are continuing to raise premiums and deny coverage as we speak.  For us to start over now could simply lead to delay that could last for another decade or even more.  The American people, and the U.S. economy, just can’t wait that long. 

 

So, no matter which approach you favor, I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform.  We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades.  Reform has already passed the House with a majority.  It has already passed the Senate with a supermajority of sixty votes.  And now it deserves the same kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and both Bush tax cuts – all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority.   

 

I have therefore asked leaders in both of Houses of Congress to finish their work and schedule a vote in the next few weeks.  From now until then, I will do everything in my power to make the case for reform.  And I urge every American who wants this reform to make their voice heard as well – every family, every business owner, every patient, every doctor, every nurse. 

 

This has been a long and wrenching debate.  It has stoked great passions among the American people and their representatives.  And that is because health care is a difficult issue.  It is a complicated issue.  As all of you know from experience, health care can literally be an issue of life or death.  As a result, it easily lends itself to demagoguery and political gamesmanship; misrepresentation and misunderstanding. 

 

But that’s not an excuse for those of us who were sent here to lead to just walk away.  We can’t just give up because the politics are hard.  I know there’s a fascination, bordering on obsession, in the media and in this town about what passing health insurance reform would mean for the next election and the one after that.  Well, I’ll leave others to sift through the politics.  Because that’s not what this is about.   That’s not why we’re here. 

 

This is about what reform would mean for the mother with breast cancer whose insurance company will finally have to pay for her chemotherapy.  This is about what reform would mean for the small business owner who will no longer have to choose between hiring more workers or offering coverage to the employees she has.  This is about what reform would mean for the middle-class family who will be able to afford health insurance for the very first time in their lives. 

 

And this is about what reform would mean for all those men and women I’ve met over the last few years who’ve been brave enough to share their stories.  When we started our push for reform last year, I talked about a young mother in Wisconsin named Laura Klitzka [KLITZ kah].  She has two young children.  She thought she had beaten her breast cancer but then later discovered it spread to her bones.  She and her husband were working – and had insurance – but their medical bills still landed them in debt.  And now she spends time worrying about that debt when all she wants to do is spend time with her children and focus on getting well. 

 

This should not happen in the United States of America.  And it doesn’t have to.  In the end, that’s what this debate is about – it’s about the kind of country we want to be.  It’s about the millions of lives that would be touched and in some cases saved by making private health insurance more secure and more affordable. 

 

At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.  The American people want to know if it’s still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future.  They are waiting for us to act.  They are waiting for us to lead.  And as long as I hold this office, I intend to provide that leadership.  I don’t know how this plays politically, but I know it’s right.  And so I ask Congress to finish its work, and I look forward to signing this reform into law.  Thank you.   

 

 

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