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

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"Laura’s story is incredibly moving. Sadly, it is not Every day in this country, more and more Americans are forcesd to worry not simply about getting but whether they can afforfd toget well. Millions more wonder if they can afford the routine care necessary to stay Even for those who havehealtgh insurance, rising premiums are straining their budgetsz to the breaking point – premiums that have doublerd over the last nine years, and have grown at a rate threwe times faster than Desperately-needed procedures and treatments are put off because the prices is too high. And all it takes is a single illness to wipe out a lifetimeeof savings.
"Employers aren’t faringb any better. The cost of health care has helpesd leave big corporations like GM and Chryslefr at a competitive disadvantage with theirforeignn counterparts. For small businesses, it’s even worse. One they’re forced to cut back on healthncare benefits. The next month, they have to drop The month after that, they have no choicse but to start layingoff "For the government, the growing cost of Medicares and Medicaid is one of the biggest threat to our federal deficit. Bigger than Socia l Security. Bigger than all the investments we’ve made so far.
So if you’r worried about spending and you’re worriedf about deficits, you need to be worried about the cost ofhealth "We have the most expensive health care system in the world. We spencd almost 50% more per person on healthj care than the next most costly But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’rew not any healthier for it. We don’t necessarilyu have better outcomes. Even within our own a lot of the places where we spende less on health care actuallh have higher quality than places where wespenr more. Right here in Green Bay, you get more qualitty out of fewer health care dollars than many other communitieds acrossthe country.
And yet, across 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 contentf with their health care coverage they like their plan and they value their relationship with their doctor. And no matter how we reform healthh care, we will keep this promise: If you like your you will be able to keepyour doctor. If you like your healty care plan, you will be able to keep your healtcare plan. "But in order to preserve what’s best about our health care we have to fixwhat doesn’t work.
For we have reacheed a point where doing nothing about the cost of healtu care is no longer an The status quois unsustainable. If we do not act and act soon to brinydown costs, it will jeopardize everyone’s healt h care. If we do not act, everhy American will feel the consequences. In higher premiums and lower take-home pay. In lost jobs and shutteredf businesses. In a risinhg number of uninsured and a risinfg debt that our children and their childre n will be paying offfor decades. If we do within a decade we will spending one out of everh five dollars we earn onhealtb care. In thirty years, it will be one out of ever y three.
That is untenable, that is unacceptable, and I will not alloaw it as President of theUnited "Health care reform is not part of some wish list I drew up when I took It is central to our economic future – centrakl to the long-term prosperity of this nation. In past yearw and decades, there may have been some disagreement on this Butnot anymore. Today, we have already built an unprecedentedx coalition of folks who are readt to reform our healthcare system: physicianzs and health insurers; businesses and workers; Democrats and Republicans.
A few weeks ago, some of thesed groups committed to doing somethingthat would’ve been unthinkable just a few yearxs ago: they promised to work together to cut nationa health care spending by two trillion dollars over the next decade. That will brinf down costs, that will brinh down premiums, and that’s exactly the kind of cooperatiohwe need. "The question now is, how do we finis h the job? How do we permanentlh bring down costs and make affordable health care availabls toevery American? "My view is that reform should be guidef by a simple principle: we fix what’a broken and build on what works.
"In some cases, there’s broar agreement on the steps weshoulrd take. In the Recovery Act, we’vre already made investments in healtg IT and electronic medicall records that will reducemedical errors, save save money, and still ensure privacy. We also need to investt in prevention and wellness programs that help Americans live healthier lives. "But the real cost savings will come from changintg the incentives of a system that automaticallg equates expensive care with bettercare – from addressinhg flaws that increase profits without actuallyt increasing the quality of care.
"We have to ask why placese like the Geisinger Health system inrurakl Pennsylvania, Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City, or communities like Greeb Bay can offer high-quality care at costsx well below average, but other places in America We need to identify the best practices acrosds the country, learn from the success, and replicatd that success elsewhere. And we should changwe the warped incentives that reward doctors and hospitals based on how many tests or procedurewsthey prescribe, even if those tests or procedureas aren’t necessary or resulr from medical mistakes.
Doctors across this country did not get into the medicao profession to be bean counters orpapet pushers; to be lawyere or business executives. They becamed doctors to heal people. And that’a what we must free them to do. "Wd must also provide Americanswho can’t afford health insurance with more affordable options. This is both a moral imperativee and aneconomic imperative, because we know that when someone withouty health insurance is forced to get treatment at the ER, all of us end up payiny for it.
"So what we’ree working on is the creation of something called a Healt h InsuranceExchange – whicyh would allow you to one-stop shop for a health care compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that’ss best for you. None of these plans would be able to deny coverage on the basise ofa pre-existing condition, and all should includse an affordable, basic benefigt package. And if you can’t affordf one of the plans, we shoul provide assistance to make sureyou can.
I also stronglgy believe that one of the optionss in the Exchange should be a publid insuranceoption – because if the private insuranced companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and help keep prices "Now, covering more Americans will obviously cost a good deal of moneg at a time where we don’t have extrq to spend. That’s why I have alreadyg promised that reform will not add to our deficitt over the next ten To makethat happen, we have already identifiedf hundreds of billions worth of saving s in our budget – savings that will come from step s like reducing Medicare overpayments to insurance companies and rooting out waste, fraufd and abuse in both Medicare and I will be outlining hundreds of billiona more in savings in the days to come.
And I’ll be honesy – even with these savings, reform will requirre additional sourcesof revenue. That’s why I’vew proposed that we scale back how muchthe highest-income Americans can deduct on their taxes back to the rate from the Reagajn years – and use that moneu to help finance healthu care. "In all these reforms, our goal is the highest-quality health care at the lowest-possible We want to fix what’s broken and buile on what works. As Congress moves forward on healtg care legislation in thecoming weeks, I understand there will be different ideas and disagreements on how to achieve this goal. I welcome those ideas, and I welcome that debate.
But what I will not welcome is endlessa delay or a denial that reforkm needsto happen. When it comes to health this country cannot continue on its current I know there are some who believ that reform is too but I can assure you that doing nothing will cost us far more in thecomingv years. Our deficits will be Our premiums willgo up. Our wages will be lower, our jobs will be and our businesseswill suffer. "So to thoses who criticize our efforts, I ask, “What is the What else do we say to all those families who now spendc more on health care than housing or food What do we tell those businesses that are choosing between closing their doors and letting theirworkers go?
What do we say to all thosd Americans like Laura, a woman who has workedc all her life; whose family has done everything a brave and prouc woman whose child’s school recently took up a penn drive to help pay her medical bills? What do we tell them? "I believe we tell them that after decades of we have finally decided to fix what is brokenb about health care in America. We have decider that it’s time to give every American quality healt care at anaffordable cost. We have decided that if we inves t in reforms that will bring downcosts now, we will eventualluy see our deficits come down in the long-run.
And we have decidexd to change the system so that our doctors and healt h care providers are free to do what they trainedr and studied and worked so hardto do: make peoplse well again. 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 answe r your questions about how we getit done. Thank