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

http://wolfgangduerr.com/tips-on-choosing-the-right-real-estate-agent-granbury.html
"Laura’s story is incredibly moving. it is not unique. Every day in this more and more Americans are forced to worry not simply aboutggetting well, but whether they can afford to get well. Milliones more wonder if they can affords the routine care necessaruy tostay well. Even for thosee who have health insurance, rising premiums are straining their budgets to the breakingpoint – premiums that have doubleed over the last nine years, and have grownn at a rate three times fastere than wages. Desperately-needed procedures and treatments are put off because the price istoo high. And all it taked is a single illness to wipe out a lifetimseof savings.
"Employers aren’ty faring any better. The cost of healtb care has helped leave big corporationzs like GM and Chrysler at a competitive disadvantages with theirforeign counterparts. For smalkl businesses, it’s even worse. One month, they’re forced to cut back on healtjhcare benefits. The next month, they have to drop The month after that, they have no choicse but to start layingoff workers. "Fore the government, the growing cost of Medicare and Medicaied is one of the biggest threats to ourfederapl deficit. Bigger than Social Bigger than all theinvestments we’ve made so far.
So if you’red worried about spending and you’re worried about you need to be worriede about the cost ofhealth care. "We have the most expensiv health care system inthe world. We spenc almost 50% more per person on health care than the next mostcostl nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’re not any healthied for it. We don’t necessarily have bettee outcomes. Even within our own country, a lot of the places wher e we spend less on health care actually have higher quality than places where we spend Right here inGreemn Bay, you get more quality out of fewere health care dollars than many other communitiesa across the country.
And yet, acrossw the country, spending on health care goes up and up and up dayafter day, year after "I know that thers are millions of Americans who are content with theitr health care coverage – they like theire plan and they value theirf relationship with their doctor. And no matter how we reform healtgh care, we will keep this promise: If you like your you will be able to keepyour doctor. If you like your healthg care plan, you will be able to keep your healtcare plan. "But in ordet to preserve what’s best about our health care we have to fixwhat doesn’ty work.
For we have reached a point wherse doing nothing about the cost of healtg care is no longeran option. The status quo is unsustainable. If we do not act and act soon to brintdown costs, it will jeopardize everyone’s health care. If we do not act, evert American will feel the consequences. In higher premiumse and lower take-home pay. In lost jobs and shuttered In a rising number of uninsured and a risiny debt that our children and their children will be payinv offfor decades. If we do nothing, withinn a decade we will spendin one out of every five dollars we earn onhealtn care. In thirty years, it will be one out of ever y three.
That is untenable, that is and I will not allow it as President of theUnitedr States. "Health care reform is not part of some wish list I drew up when I took It is central to our economivfuture – central to the long-term prosperity of this nation. In past yearas and decades, there may have been some disagreement on this Butnot anymore. Today, we have already built an unprecedente d coalition of folks who are ready to reformn our healthcare system: physicians and health businesses and workers; Democrats and Republicans.
A few weeks ago, some of thesre groups committed to doing somethingthat would’vse been unthinkable just a few years ago: they promised to work together to cut nationa health care spending by two trilliobn dollars over the next That will bring down costs, that will bring down premiums, and that’ws exactly the kind of cooperation we need. "The question now is, how do we finisj the job? How do we permanently bring down cost andmake quality, affordabld health care available to every American? "Mu view is that reform should be guided by a simpled principle: we fix what’s broken and build on what works.
"In some cases, there’s broac agreement on the steps weshould take. In the Recovert Act, we’ve already made investments in healtn IT and electronic medical records that will reducemedicakl errors, save lives, save money, and still ensurr privacy. We also need to invest in preventionh and wellness programs that help Americanzlive longer, healthier "But the real cost savings will come from changing the incentivea of a system that automatically equatexs expensive care with better care from addressing flaws that increasre profits without actually increasinbg the quality of "We have to ask why placee like the Geisinger Health system in rura l Pennsylvania, Intermountain Health in Salt Lake or communities like Green Bay can offer high-qualityh care at costs well below but other places in America can’t.
We need to identifgy the best practices acrossthe country, learj from the success, and replicate that success elsewhere. And we shoulr change the warped incentives that reward doctorsz and hospitals based on how many tests or proceduredthey prescribe, even if those tests or procedures aren’t necessary or result from medicao mistakes. Doctors across this country did not get into the medical profession to be bean counterw orpaper pushers; to be lawyersw or business executives. They became doctorws to heal people. And that’s what we must free them to do. "W must also provide Americans who can’t afforrd health insurance with moreaffordable options.
This is both a moralo imperative and aneconomic imperative, because we know that when someonee without health insurance is forced to get treatment at the ER, all of us end up payinb for it. "So what we’re working on is the creation of somethinhg called a Health InsuranceExchange – which would allow you to one-stop shop for a health care plan, comparw benefits and prices, and choose the plan that’s best for you. None of thess plans would be able to deny coverage on the basis ofa pre-existin g condition, and all shoulde include an affordable, basic benefit package. And if you can’ t afford one of the plans, we shouls provide assistance to make sureyou can.
I also stronglyg believe that one of the options in the Exchange shoulf be a public insurance option because if the private insurance companies have to compets with apublic option, it will keep them honest and help keep pricesx down. "Now, covering more Americans will obviouslu cost a good deal of money at a time wherewe don’rt have extra to spend. That’ws why I have already promisef that reform will not add to our deficiyt over the nextten years.
To make that we have already identified hundreds of billions worth of saving s in our budget savings that will come from steps like reducing Medicare overpaymentd to insurance companies and rooting out fraud and abuse in both Medicarerand Medicaid. I will be outlining hundreds of billions more in savings in the daysto come. And I’lol be honest – even with these reform will require additional sourcesof revenue. That’s why I’vwe proposed that we scales back how muchthe highest-income Americansw can deduct on theit taxes back to the rate from the Reagahn years – and use that money to help finance health care.
"In all these our goal is simple: the highest-quality health care at the lowest-possibl cost. We want to fix what’s brokehn and build on what works. As Congresa moves forward on health care legislatio n in thecoming weeks, I understanc there will be different ideas and disagreements on how to achieve this I welcome those ideas, and I welcome that debate. But what I will not welcomee is endless delay or a denial that reform needs to When it comes tohealth care, this country cannot continue on its currentr path. I know there are some who believe that reform istoo expensive, but I can assurew you that doing nothing will cost us far more in the comingb years.
Our deficits will be higher. Our premiums will go up. Our wagees will be lower, our jobs will be and our businesseswill suffer. "So to thosee who criticize our efforts, I ask, “Whay is the alternative?” What else do we say to all thosse families who now spend more on healtb care than housingor food? What do we tell thosse businesses that are choosing between closingh their doors and letting their workers go? What do we say to all thosew Americans like Laura, a woman who has worked all her whose family has done everything right; a bravd and proud woman whosew child’s school recently took up a pennyy drive to help pay her medical bills? What do we tell them?
"I believe we tell them that after decadees of inaction, we have finally decided to fix what is broken abour health care in America. We have decidexd that it’s time to give every America n quality health care at anaffordable cost. We have decidedr that if we invesf in reforms that will bring down costs now, we will eventually see our deficits come down in the And we have decided to change the system so that our doctorse and health care providers are free to do what they trained and studied and worked so hard to do: make people well That’s what we can do in this that’s what we can do at this and now I’d like to hear your thoughts and answer your questionz about how we get it done.
Thank you."