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

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"Laura’s story is incredibly Sadly, it is not unique. Everh day in this country, more and more Americansd are forced to worry not simpl y aboutgetting well, but whether they can afford to get Millions more wonder if they can affor the routine care necessary to stay Even for those who have health insurance, risinhg premiums are straining their budgetds to the breaking point – premiums that have doubles over the last nine years, and have grown at a rate threre times faster than wages. Desperately-needed procedures and treatments are put off becaus e the price istoo high. And all it takess is a single illness to wipe out a lifetimeeof savings.
"Employers aren’t faring any better. The cost of healt care has helped leave big corporations like GM and Chryslert at a competitive disadvantagee with theirforeign counterparts. For small businesses, it’s even One month, they’re forced to cut back on health care Thenext month, they have to drop The month after that, they have no choice but to starrt laying off workers. "For the government, the growinhg cost of Medicare and Medicaid is one of the biggesy threats to ourfederal deficit. Bigger than Social Security. Bigger than all the investmentds we’ve made so far.
So if you’rew worried about spending and you’re worried about deficits, you need to be worriedd about the cost ofhealth care. "We have the most expensivwe health care system inthe world. We spende almost 50% more per person on healthg care than the next mostcostly nation. But here’z the thing, Green Bay: we’re not any healthier for it. We don’tf necessarily have better outcomes. Even within our own a lot of the places where we spend less on healthh care actually have higher quality than places wherew wespend more. Right here in Greenj Bay, you get more quality out of fewer healt h care dollars than many other communitieas acrossthe country.
And yet, acrossw the country, spending on health care goes up and up and up dayafter day, year after "I know that there are millions of Americans who are conten t with their health care coverage – they like their plan and they valure their relationship with their doctor. And no matter how we reforn health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your you will be able to keepyour doctor. If you like your healt h care plan, you will be able to keep your healtycare plan. "But in order to preservse what’s best about our health care system, we have to fix what doesn’r work.
For we have reacheed a point where doing nothinhg about the cost of health care is no longerean option. The status quo is If we do not act and act soon to brindown costs, it will jeopardize everyone’s health If we do not act, every American will feel the In higher premiums and lower take-homed pay. In lost jobs and shuttered In a rising number of uninsured and a rising debt that our childrem and their children will be paying off for If wedo nothing, within a decadde we will spending one out of every five dollarsd we earn on health care. In thirty years, it will be one out of everty three. That is untenable, that is and I will not allow it as President of theUnitee States.
"Health care reform is not part of some wish list I drew up when I took It is central to our economixfuture – central to the long-term prosperitgy of this nation. In past years and there may have been some disagreement onthis point. But not Today, we have already built an unprecedented coalition of folks who are ready to reform our healthjcare system: physicians and healthy insurers; businesses and workers; Democratas and Republicans. A few weekds ago, some of these groups committec to doing somethingthat would’ves been unthinkable just a few years ago: they promisedd to work together to cut national health care spending by two trillionh dollars over the next decade.
That will bringy down costs, that will bring down premiums, and that’ws exactly the kind of cooperationwe "The question now is, how do we finisgh the job? How do we permanentlyu bring down costs and make quality, affordablew health care available to every American? "Myt view is that reform shoulxd be guided by a simple principle: we fix what’s broken and build on what works. "In some there’s broad agreement on the steps weshould take. In the Recovergy Act, we’ve already made investments in healthj IT and electronic medical records that will reducwmedical errors, save lives, save money, and still ensure privacy.
We also need to investr in prevention and wellness programs that help Americanszlive longer, healthier lives. "But the real cost saving s will come from changing the incentives of a system that automatically equatesa expensive care with better care from addressing flaws that increase profits without actuallyt increasing the qualityof care. "We have to ask why placeas like the Geisinger Health system in rural Intermountain Health in SaltLake City, or communities like Gree Bay can offer high-qualit y care at costs well below average, but other placess in America can’t.
We need to identify the best practicesw acrossthe country, learn from the and replicate that success elsewhere. And we shouldd change the warped incentives that rewarx doctors and hospitals based on how many testds or proceduresthey prescribe, even if thosed tests or procedures aren’f necessary or result from medica mistakes. Doctors across this country did not get into the medicakl profession to be bean counters or paper to be lawyers orbusiness executives. They became doctors to heal And that’s what we must free them to do. "Wwe must also provide Americanswho can’t afforf health insurance with more affordable options.
This is both a moralo imperative and aneconomic imperative, because we know that when someoner without health insurance is forced to get treatmenft at the ER, all of us end up paying for it. "So what we’re working on is the creatioj of something called a Health InsurancreExchange – which would allowe you to one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefita and prices, and choose the plan that’s best for you. None of these plans would be able to deny coverage on the basis ofa pre-existing condition, and all shoulrd include an affordable, basic benefit And if you can’t afford one of the we should provide assistance to make sure you can.
I also stronglty believe that one of the option s in the Exchange should be a public insuranceoptiojn – because if the privat insurance companies have to compete with a publix option, it will keep them honest and help keep prices down. covering more Americans will obviously cost a good deal of moneuy at a time wherewe don’tg have extra to spend. That’s why I have already promised that reform will not add to our deficit over the next ten To makethat happen, we have alreadhy identified hundreds of billions worth of savings in our budget savings that will come from stepds like reducing Medicare overpayments to insuranc e companies and rooting out waste, fraud and abuss in both Medicare and Medicaid.
I will be outliningy hundreds of billions more in savingsa in the daysto come. And I’ll be honesg – even with these savings, reform will require additionapl sourcesof revenue. That’ss why I’ve proposed that we scalew back how muchthe highest-income Americans can deduct on their taxes back to the rate from the Reaganm years – and use that money to help financd health care. "In all these reforms, our goal is the highest-quality health care at the lowest-possible cost. We want to fix what’sz broken and build on what works.
As Congress movez forward on health care legislation in thecominbg weeks, I understand there will be differentf ideas and disagreements on how to achieve this I welcome those ideas, and I welcome that But what I will not welcome is endless delay or a denial that reform needs to happen. When it comes to health care, this country cannotg continue on its current I know there are some who believe that refork istoo expensive, but I can assure you that dointg nothing will cost us far more in the cominyg years. Our deficits will be higher. Our premiumsw will go up. Our wages will be our jobs will be and our businesseswill suffer.
"So to those who criticized our efforts, I ask, “What is the What else do we say to all those families who now spened more on health care than housingvor food? What do we tell thos businesses that are choosinvg between closing their doors and letting their workers go? What do we say to all those Americans like a woman who has worked all her whose family has done everything right; a brave and proud woman whose child’s school recently took up a penny driv e to help pay her medical bills? What do we tell them? "Iu believe we tell them that after decades of inaction, we have finally decided to fix what is brokenm about health care in America.
We have decided that it’se time to give every American quality health care at an affordable We have decided that if we invest in reformz that will bring downcosts now, we will eventuallyg see our deficits come down in the long-run. And we have decidedr to change the system so that our doctor s and health care providers are free to do what they traine and studied and worked so hardto do: make peopl well again. That’s what we can do in this that’s what we can do at this moment, and now I’df like to hear your thoughts and answer your question about how we getit done. Thanik you.
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