| We will leave it up to the reader
to determine whether Bark Obama is doing enough to educate the American
public on Health Care Reform.
(Remember it is best to investigate on your
own when looking at Important Government Projects.
Don't believe us, think for yourself and investigate for yourself! And
remember, the Religious Freedom Coalition does not represent any political
party nor do we recommend any political candidate, nor are we involving
ourselves in the political process. BUT, we are here to expose
hypocrites who abuse our trust in them and will not stand for public
officials lying, stealing, making unethical choices, and not representing
the American People. And we are also here to show that some
polititians are trying to do the Right Thing like President Obama.
ARE
(TEA PARTY) REPUBLICAN
EXTREMISTS THE ENEMY AND TRAITORS TO AMERICA? by R. Blackbird
Extremist (Tea Party) Republicans are selfish, power hungry, hateful
of the poor, disloyal to the nation and its people, dishonest, avaricious,
scornful of the nation's history, the dignity of its institutions, its
standards of political morality, and its vision of advancement for all the
people. The Republicans love war as long as they and theirs do not have to
put on helmets and carry guns into the fighting. They use lies to start wars
that kill hundreds of thousands of innocents and thousands of our own
military service people. They love massive war-time profits, unavailable to
their rich masters if war is absent.
Those Extremist Republicans
hate the rest of us, which they must, in order to pass away from themselves
and onto us, the financial burdens and losses their crimes, schemes and
thefts cause. They are prolific, incessant, and destructive liars. They are
blasphemers for they insist that their hateful and destructive deeds are the
work of God. They are apostates for they gleefully attack the poor, the
immigrants, the old and the sick, of whom God has commanded all of us to be
mindful.
There is no reasoning with them, for all their logic is built on false
premises. There is no appealing to them for honor's sake for they have lost
all sense of shame and have no honor, there is no appealing to them for the
nation's sake for that it what they hate the most.
Extremist (Tea
Party) Republicans are the enemy.
Obama Press Conference On Health Care
Updated: 07-22-09 10:07 PM
Below is the full text of the
prepared remarks President Obama delivered during his press conference
tonight, along with updates from the subsequent Q&A.
-- Obama on his interactions with
Congress on health care. Obama's first question: Have you told House and
Senate leaders which health care ideas are acceptable to you? If so, will
you share them publicly? And if not, why haven't you stepped in to get a
deal done because you are the one pushing a deadline?
Obama began by addressing the
worsening health care crisis, with premiums and the number of uninsured
rising. He emphasizes his pledge not to keep his health care plan
deficit-neutral, and explains that only a third of the proposed spending
still needs to a plan to be funded. He says he's open to a variety of ideas
for paying for that final third, but of course will reject any plan that
places the burden for that funding on the back of middle class Americans.
After several minutes discussing
policy details, he addressed the skepticism about major health care
legislation felt by many Americans:
Now, I understand that people are
feeling uncertain about this. They feel anxious, partly because we've just
become so cynical about what government can accomplish. People's attitudes
are, you know, even though I don't like this devil, at least I know it. And
I like that more than the devil I don't know. So folks are skeptical. And
that is entirely legitimate because they haven't seen a lot of laws coming
out of Washington lately that helped them. But my hope is, and I'm confident
that when people look at the cost of doing nothing, they're going to say, we
can make this happen. We've made big changes before that end up resulting in
a better life for the American people.
-- Obama asked, why the rush?
Question two: "You've been pushing Congress to pass health care reform
by August. Why the rush? Are you worried that if you don't, there's a
delay until the fall and that it will collapse?"
Obama said there are two reasons
-- first, because of the letters he gets "every day from families that are
being clobbered by health care costs. And they ask me, can you help?" People
are suffering and he feels it's critical to act, he said.
Obama's second reason: "If you
don't set deadlines in this town, things don't happen... because doing
something always creates some people who are unhappy. There's always going
to be some interest out there that decides, you know what, the status quo is
working for me a little bit better. And the fact that we have made so much
progress, where we've got doctors, nurses, hospitals, even the
pharmaceutical industry, aarp, saying that this makes sense to do, I think
means that the stars are aligned, and we need to take advantage of that."
-- Health care politics. NBC's
Chuck Todd asks, "The politics of it -- you mentioned two Republicans in
your opening statement, but you have 60 Democratic seats [in the Senate], a
healthy majority in the House. If you don't get this, isn't this a fight
inside the Democratic Party? and Republicans aren't really playing a -- you
can't really blame the Republicans for this one?"
Obama responded by noting that he
hasn't been blaming the Republicans -- but he did admit that he's "been a
little frustrated by some of the misinformation that's been coming out of
the Republicans, but that has to do with, as you pointed out, politics."
He offered praise for some GOP
Senators by name -- "I am very appreciative that people like Chuck Grassley
on the Finance committee in the Senate, people like Mike Enzi, people like
Olympia Snowe have been serious in engaging Democrats in trying to figure
out how do we actually get a system that works. And even in those committees
where you didn't see Republican votes, we've seen Republican ideas. So for
example in the Health committee in the Senate, 160 Republican amendments
were adopted into that bill, because they've got good ideas to contribute.
So the politics may dictate that they don't vote for health care reform
because they think, you know, it'll make Obama more vulnerable. But if
they've got a good idea we'll still take it."
He also acknowledged that there
have been differences among Democrats, but mostly explained those away to
people having "a lot of different ideas" of how to help, and to some
"regional disparities" producing divides on things like Medicare
reimbursement rates.
-- Will health care reform require
sacrifices? ABC's Jake Tapper asked a leading question, first stating that
health care reform will require sacrifices in "tests, referrals, choice, end
of life care," then asking whether Obama accepted that Americans will have
to give something up to get better health care.
Obama basically rejected the
question's premise. "They're going to have to give up paying for things that
don't make them healthier," he said. "And I, speaking as an American, I
think that's the kind of change you want." He cited unnecessary duplication
of tests that would be reduced with reform.
Obama also had a long riff
emphasizing his concerns about federal spending, the debt and the deficit --
and why health care was an important part of addressing those problems.
Here's a portion:
The debt and the deficit are deep
concerns of mine. I am very worried about federal spending. And the steps
that we've taken so far have reduced federal spending over the next ten
years by $2.2 trillion. It's not enough but in order for us to do more we're
not only going to have to eliminate waste in the system -- and by the way we
had a big victory yesterday by eliminating a weapons program, the F-22, that
the Pentagon had repeatedly said we didn't need.
We're going to have to eliminate
waste there, no big contracts, do all kinds of reforms in our budgeting, but
we're also going to have to change health care. Otherwise we can't close
that $7.1 trillion gap in the way the American people want it to change. So
to all -- everybody who's out there who has been on this idea the Obama
administration wants to spend and spend and spend, the fact of the matter is
that we inherited an enormous deficit, enormous long-term debt projections.
We have not reduced it as much as we need to and as I'd like to, but health
care reform is not going to add to that deficit. It's designed to lower it.
That's part of the reason why it's so important to do and to do now.
-- Obama pressed on
transparency. Here's the question: "You promised that health care
negotiations would take place on C-span and that hasn't happened, and your
administration recently turned down a request from a watchdog group seeking
a list of health care executives who visited the White House to talk about
health care reform. Also, the TARP inspector general recently said your
White House is withholding too much information on the bank bailout. My
question for you is, are you fulfilling your promise of transparency in the
White House?"
Obama's answer:
Well, on the list of health care
executives who visited us, most of the time you guys have been in there
taking pictures. So it hasn't been a secret. My understanding is we just
sent a letter out providing a full list of all the executives, but
frankly these have mostly been at least photo sprays where you could see
who was participating.
With respect to all the negotiations not being on C-SPAN, you will recall
in this very room that our kick-off event was here on C-SPAN. And at a
certain point, you know, you start getting into all kinds of different
meetings. The Senate Finance committee is having a meeting. The House is
having a meeting. If they want those to be on C-span, then I would
welcome it. I don't think there are a lot of secrets going on in there.
And the last question with respect to TARP, I -- let me take a look at
what exactly they say we have not provided. I think that we've provided
much greater transparency than existed prior to our administration
coming in. It is a big program. I don't know exactly what's been
requested.
-- On the arrest of Harvard
Professor Henry Louis Gates. The Chicago Sun-Times' famously pugnacious
reporter Lynn Sweet asked about the only question of the night that didn't
somehow touch on health care, probing Obama for his thoughts on the
controversial arrest of Harvard University's Skip Gates. After noting that
Gates was a friend of his, Obama said:
Now, I don't know, not having
been there and not seeing all the facts what role race played in that,
but I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty
angry. Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting
somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home
and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this
incident is that there is a long history in this country of
African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement
disproportionately. And that's just a fact.
As you know, Lynn, when I was in the state legislature in Illinois we
worked on a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable
evidence that blacks and Hispanics were being stopped
disproportionately. And that is a sign, an example of how, you know,
race remains a factor in this society. That doesn't lessen the
incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony
to the progress that's been made. And yet, the fact of the matter is
that, you know, this still haunts us.
Obama's prepared remarks prior to
the Q&A:
Good evening. Before I take your
questions, I want to talk for a few minutes about the progress we're making
on health insurance reform and where it fits into our broader economic
strategy.
Six months ago, I took office amid
the worst recession in half a century. We were losing an average of 700,000
jobs per month and our financial system was on the verge of collapse.
As a result of the action we took
in those first weeks, we have been able to pull our economy back from the
brink. We took steps to stabilize our financial institutions and our housing
market. And we passed a Recovery Act that has already saved jobs and created
new ones; delivered billions in tax relief to families and small businesses;
and extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have
been laid off.
Of course, we still have a long
way to go. And the Recovery Act will continue to save and create more jobs
over the next two years - just like it was designed to do. I realize this is
little comfort to those Americans who are currently out of work, and I'll be
honest with you - new hiring is always one of the last things to bounce back
after a recession.
And the fact is, even before this
crisis hit, we had an economy that was creating a good deal of wealth for
folks at the very top, but not a lot of good-paying jobs for the rest of
America. It's an economy that simply wasn't ready to compete in the 21st
century - one where we've been slow to invest in the clean energy
technologies that have created new jobs and industries in other countries;
where we've watched our graduation rates lag behind too much of the world;
and where we spend much more on health care than any other nation but aren't
any healthier for it.
That is why I've said that even as
we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, we must rebuild it stronger
than before. And health insurance reform is central to that effort.
This is not just about the 47
million Americans who have no health insurance. Reform is about every
American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they
become too sick, or lose their job, or change their job. It's about every
small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on
their coverage because it became too expensive. And it's about the fact that
the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing
cost of Medicare and Medicaid.
So let me be clear: if we do not
control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit. If we do
not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue
to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their
health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction.
These are the stakes of the debate we're having right now.
I realize that with all the
charges and criticisms being thrown around in Washington, many Americans may
be wondering, "What's in this for me? How does my family stand to benefit
from health insurance reform?"
Tonight I want to answer those
questions. Because even though Congress is still working through a few key
issues, we already have agreement on the following areas:
If you already have health
insurance, the reform we're proposing will provide you with more security
and more stability. It will keep government out of health care decisions,
giving you the option to keep your insurance if you're happy with it. It
will prevent insurance companies from dropping your coverage if you get too
sick. It will give you the security of knowing that if you lose your job,
move, or change your job, you will still be able to have coverage. It will
limit the amount your insurance company can force you to pay for your
medical costs out of your own pocket. And it will cover preventive care like
check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.
If you don't have health
insurance, or are a small business looking to cover your employees, you'll
be able to choose a quality, affordable health plan through a health
insurance exchange - a marketplace that promotes choice and competition
Finally, no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because
of a pre-existing medical condition.
I have also pledged that health
insurance reform will not add to our deficit over the next decade - and I
mean it. In the past eight years, we saw the enactment of two tax cuts,
primarily for the wealthiest Americans, and a Medicare prescription program,
none of which were paid for. This is partly why I inherited a $1.3 trillion
deficit.
That will not happen with health
insurance reform. It will be paid for. Already, we have estimated that
two-thirds of the cost of reform can be paid for by reallocating money that
is simply being wasted in federal health care programs. This includes over
one hundred billion dollars in unwarranted subsidies that go to insurance
companies as part of Medicare - subsidies that do nothing to improve care
for our seniors. And I'm pleased that Congress has already embraced these
proposals. While they are currently working through proposals to finance the
remaining costs, I continue to insist that health reform not be paid for on
the backs of middle-class families.
In addition to making sure that
this plan doesn't add to the deficit in the short-term, the bill I sign must
also slow the growth of health care costs in the long run. Our proposals
would change incentives so that doctors and nurses are free to give patients
the best care, not just the most expensive care. That's why the nation's
largest organizations representing doctors and nurses have embraced our
plan.
We also want to create an
independent group of doctors and medical experts who are empowered to
eliminate waste and inefficiency in Medicare on an annual basis - a proposal
that could save even more money and ensure the long-term financial health of
Medicare. Overall, our proposals will improve the quality of care for our
seniors and save them thousands of dollars on prescription drugs, which is
why the AARP has endorsed our reform efforts.
Not all of the cost savings
measures I just mentioned were contained in Congress's draft legislation,
but we are now seeing broad agreement thanks to the work that was done over
the last few days. So even though we still have a few issues to work out,
what's remarkable at this point is not how far we have left to go - it's how
far we have already come.
I understand how easy it is for
this town to become consumed in the game of politics - to turn every issue
into running tally of who's up and who's down. I've heard that one
Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to
compromise, it's better politics to "go for the kill." Another Republican
Senator said that defeating health reform is about "breaking" me.
So let me be clear: This isn't
about me. I have great health insurance, and so does every Member of
Congress. This debate is about the letters I read when I sit in the Oval
Office every day, and the stories I hear at town hall meetings. This is
about the woman in Colorado who paid $700 a month to her insurance company
only to find out that they wouldn't pay a dime for her cancer treatment -
who had to use up her retirement funds to save her own life. This is about
the middle-class college graduate from Maryland whose health insurance
expired when he changed jobs, and woke up from emergency surgery with
$10,000 in debt. This is about every family, every business, and every
taxpayer who continues to shoulder the burden of a problem that Washington
has failed to solve for decades.
This debate is not a game for
these Americans, and they cannot afford to wait for reform any longer. They
are counting on us to get this done. They are looking to us for leadership.
And we must not let them down. We will pass reform that lowers cost,
promotes choice, and provides coverage that every American can count on. And
we will do it this year. And with that, I'll take your questions.
WASHINGTON - posted on Huffington
Post/AP - 08-15-09
President Barack Obama headed to
Grand Junction, Colo., Saturday in his drive to overhaul the health care
system.
There, he held his second town
hall-style meeting on health care in as many days. In a Montana airport
hangar Friday, Obama faced a largely friendly crowd but also took a pointed
question about his plans to pay for the massive overhaul.
While in the West, Obama will tour
some national treasures. He and the first lady visited Yellowstone Saturday
morning and will go to the Grand Canyon on Sunday.
Obama Goes After Politicians
Spreading "Death Panels" Lie At Colorado Town Hall:
"What you can't do, or you can,
but you shouldn't do -- is start saying things like we want to set up death
panels to pull the plug on grandma." President Obama paused and grew
emotional, "First of all, when you make a comment like that, I just lost my
grandmother last year... I know what its like to watch somebody you love,
who's aging, deteriorate... When you start making arguments like that,
that's simply dishonest. Especially when I hear the arguments coming from
members of congress in the other party, who, it turns out, sponsored similar
provisions!"
Opening remarks
below:
****
Hello, Grand Junction! It's great
to be back in Southwest Colorado. And it's nice to take a break from the
back and forth in Washington. I especially want to thank Nathan for his
introduction. I appreciate your willingness to talk about such a painful
experience, because it's important that we understand what's at stake in
this health care debate. These are the kinds of stories I've read in letters
and heard in town halls all across America.
On Tuesday, I was in New Hampshire
talking about the people denied insurance coverage because of preexisting
conditions. Yesterday, I was in Montana talking about people who've had
their insurance policies suddenly revoked, even though they were paying
premiums, just because they got sick. And today we're talking about the
folks like Nathan and his family who have insurance but are still stuck with
huge bills because they've hit a cap on their benefits or are charged
exorbitant out-of-pocket fees.
And when you hear about these
experiences, when you think of the millions of people denied coverage
because of preexisting conditions, the thousands who have their policies
cancelled because of illness, the countless folks like Nathan, I want you to
remember one thing: there but for the grace of God go I. These are ordinary
Americans, no different than anyone else, held hostage by health insurance
companies that deny them coverage, or drop their coverage, or charge fees
that they can't afford for care they desperately need.
It's wrong. It's hurting too many
families and businesses. And we're going to fix it when we pass health
insurance reform this year.
Now, this is obviously a tough
time for families in Colorado and across America. Just six months ago, we
were in the middle of the worst recession of our lifetimes. We were losing
about 700,000 jobs each month. Economists of all stripes feared a second
coming of the Great Depression. That's why we acted as fast as we could to
pass a recovery plan to stop the freefall.
The recovery plan was divided into
three parts. One third of the money in the Recovery Act went to tax cuts
that have already started showing up in the paychecks of nearly 2 million
working families in Colorado. We also cut taxes for small businesses on the
investments that they make, and hundreds of Colorado small businesses have
qualified for new loans backed by the Recovery Act - including eleven
businesses in Grand Junction alone.
Another third of the money in the
Recovery Act is for emergency relief for folks who've borne the brunt of
this recession. We've extended unemployment benefits for more than 150,000
Coloradans. We've made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families who
rely on COBRA while they're looking for work. And for states facing historic
budget shortfalls, we provided assistance that has saved the jobs of tens of
thousands of workers who provide essential services, like teachers and
police officers. We've prevented painful jobs cuts - and a lot of painful
state and local tax increases.
The last third of the Recovery Act
is for investments that are already putting people back to work. There are
almost 100 shovel-ready transportation projects already approved in Colorado
which are beginning to create jobs. Not far from here, for example, there's
a project to pave and add lanes to State Highway 92. And most of the work is
being done by local businesses, because that's how we're going to create
jobs and grow this economy again.
By next month, projects will be
underway at more than one hundred national parks all over America, including
Colorado. These are projects restoring trails, improving infrastructure,
making park facilities more energy efficient. Earlier today, I toured
Yellowstone with Michelle and the girls. Tomorrow, we'll be visiting the
Grand Canyon. And I recently signed into law a public lands bill that
designated the Dominguez-Escalante Canyon as a National Conservation Area
here in Colorado. These are national treasures - symbols of how much we owe
to those who came before us. And as we grapple with enormous challenges -
like health care - the work of generations past reminds us of our duty to
generations yet to come.
So there is no doubt that the
recovery plan is doing what we said it would: putting us on the road to
recovery. We saw last week that the jobs picture is beginning to turn. We're
starting to see signs that business investment is coming back. But that
doesn't mean we're out of the woods. Even before this recession we had an
economy that was working pretty well for the wealthiest Americans - working
pretty well for Wall Street bankers and big corporations - but it wasn't
working so well for everybody else. It was an economy of bubbles and busts.
It was an economy that rewarded recklessness over responsibility. We cannot
go back to that kind of economy.
If we want this country to succeed
in the 21st century then we have to lay a new foundation for lasting
prosperity. And health insurance reform is a key pillar of this new
foundation. Because this economy won't work for everyone until folks like
Nathan and his family aren't pushed to the brink by medical expenses; until
companies aren't slashing payroll and losing profits to pay for health
insurance; until every single American has the security and peace of mind of
quality, affordable health care.
Health care touches all of our
lives in a profound way. It's only natural that this debate is an emotional
one. And I know there's been a lot of attention paid to some of the town
hall meetings that are going on around the country - especially those where
tempers have flared. You know how TV loves a ruckus.
But what you haven't seen are the
many constructive meetings going on all over the country. Just yesterday I
held a town hall in Belgrade, Montana. And we had a pretty good crowd. Some
folks were big supporters of reform. Some had concerns and questions. And
some were downright skeptical. I got a few tough questions, too. But I was
glad to see that even though Montanans have strong opinions, they weren't
there to shout at one another. They were there to listen to one another.
I think that reflects the American
people far more than what we've seen covered on television these past few
days. And I thank you for coming here today in that spirit. But before I
take your questions, I want to talk about what health insurance reform will
mean for you. First of all, there will be a set of common-sense consumer
protections for folks with health insurance.
Insurance companies will no longer
be able to place an arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive
or charge outrageous out-of-pocket expenses on top of your premiums. This is
what happened to Nathan and his wife. Their son was diagnosed with
hemophilia when he was born. The insurance company then raised premiums for
his family and for all his coworkers who were on the same policy. And the
family was approaching their cap. So on top of the worry about taking care
of their son, they've had the added worry of trying to find insurance that
would cover him - plus thousands and thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket
costs. Nathan and his wife even considered getting a divorce so that she
could go on Medicaid. Thankfully, Colorado law doesn't allow coverage for
small businesses to permanently exclude preexisting conditions like his
son's, so they found insurance. But they're paying increasing premiums and
they still face the prospect of hitting their new cap in the next few years.
I've heard stories like this all
over the country. Like the teenager from Indiana diagnosed with leukemia.
The chemotherapy and intensive care he received cost hundreds of thousands
of dollars. His family hit their lifetime cap in less than a year. So the
insurance wouldn't cover a bone marrow transplant and the family couldn't
afford the half a million dollars they needed. The family turned to the
public for help, but the boy died before he could receive that transplant.
If you think this can't happen to
you or your family, think again. Almost 90 percent of individual health
insurance policies have lifetime benefit limits. About a third of family
plans in the individual insurance market have lifetime limits under $3
million. If you or your spouse or your child get sick, and you hit that
limit, suddenly it's like you have no insurance at all.
And this is part of a larger
story: of folks with insurance paying more and more out-of-pocket. In the
past few years, premiums have nearly doubled. And total out of pocket costs
have increased by almost fifty percent - that's more than $2,000 per person.
No one is holding the insurance companies accountable for these practices.
But we will. We're going to ban arbitrary caps on benefits. And we'll place
limits on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses. No one in
America should go broke because they get sick.
Insurance companies will also be
stopped from cancelling coverage because you get sick or denying coverage
because of your medical history. A recent report found that in the past few
years, more than 12 million Americans were discriminated against by
insurance companies because of a preexisting condition. When we get health
insurance reform done, those days will be over. And we will require
insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like
mammograms and colonoscopies. That saves money and that saves lives.
At the same time, if you like your
health care plan, you can keep your health plan. If you like your doctor,
you can keep seeing your doctor. I don't want government bureaucrats
meddling in your health care - but the point is, I don't want insurance
company bureaucrats meddling in your health care either. So if you're one of
the nearly 46 million people who don't have health insurance, you will
finally have quality, affordable options. And if you do have health
insurance, we will help make that insurance more affordable and more secure.
Under reform, roughly 700,000 middle-class Coloradans will get a health care
tax credit. More than a million Coloradans will have access to a new
marketplace where you can easily compare health insurance options. 87,000
small businesses in Colorado will be aided by new tax benefits. And we do
all of this without adding to our deficit over the next decade, largely but
cutting waste and ending sweetheart deals for insurance companies that don't
make anybody any healthier.
Here in Grand Junction, you know
that lowering costs is possible if you put in place smarter incentives; if
you think about how to treat people, not just illnesses; if you look at
problems facing not just one hospital or physician, but the many system-wide
problems that are shared. That's what the medical community in this city
did; now you are getting better results while wasting less money. And I know
that your Senator, Michael Bennet, has been working hard on legislation
that's based on the innovations put into practice here.
The fact is, we are closer to
achieving health insurance reform than we have ever been. We have the
American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association on board -
because America's doctors and nurses know how badly we need reform. We have
broad agreement in Congress on about 80 percent of what we're trying to
achieve. And we have an agreement from the drug companies to make
prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. The AARP supports this
policy, and agrees with us that reform must happen this year.
Because we are getting close, the
fight is getting fierce. The history is clear: every time we are in sight of
health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything
they've got. They use their influence. They run their ads. They use their
political allies to scare the American people. In fact, whenever America has
set about solving our toughest problems, there have been those who have
sought to preserve the status quo. And these struggles have always boiled
down to a contest between hope and fear. That was true when Social Security
was born. That was true when Medicare was created. It is true in this debate
today.
But whether you have health
insurance or not, we all know that we cannot continue down this path, with
costs rising far faster than wages and cuts in care to make up the
difference: a system that too often works better for the insurance companies
than it does for the American people. That's why reform is so important: to
maintain what's best about our health care system - the relationship between
doctors, nurses, and their patients - while fixing what's broken.
Because for all the scare tactics
out there, what is truly scary is if we do nothing. We will continue to see
14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day. Premiums will
continue to skyrocket, rising three times faster than wages. The deficit
will continue to grow. Medicare will go into the red in less than a decade.
And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against
people simply for being sick.
So if you want a different future
- a brighter future - I need your help. I need you to stand against the
politics of fear and division. I need you to knock on doors and spread the
word. I need you to fight for the security and stability of quality,
affordable health care for every American. For we know that change never
starts in Washington. It starts in places like Grand Junction. It starts
with folks willing to fight for our future. It starts with you.
Thank you. And now, I'd be happy
to take your questions.
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