President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting on healthcare reform
Obama in Green Bay
Obama in Green Bay
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 1 of 2
While it might be below many American’s radars as the most pressing
issue facing America, President Barack Obama has targeted healthcare reform
as one of his highest priorities for the current legislative session in Washington,
D.C. He has repeatedly said that he wants meaningful healthcare reform
legislation passed by the U.S. Congress and on his desk for his signature by
October.
In March 2009, Obama kicked off his healthcare reform initiative with a
White House Forum on Healthcare where industry and political leaders along
with a sampling of “everyday people” in attendance. Recently, Obama has
held a series of healthcare reform town hall meetings to highlight the urgency
of the need to institute reform and to garner public support for his initiative. On
June 11, Obama held his first town hall meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Subsequent town hall meetings have been held on ABC and will hold an
additional one that will be broadcast on the Internet.
Obama’s town hall meeting in Green Bay was held in the gymnasium of
Southwest High School, which had dismissed its classes for the day at 10 a.m.
A platform for Obama was placed in the center of the gymnasium and was
surrounded on three sides by the media, political figures from Wisconsin state
and local governments and individuals who had been selected to attend
through a lottery system. It was a relatively intimate gathering of about 1,200
people especially when compared with the Obama campaign rallies that
regularly attracted tens of thousands of people.
After the singing of the National Anthem and a relatively modest
introduction by a woman whose family had been negatively impacted by the
healthcare system, Obama took the stage and delivered approximately 20
minutes of prepared remarks before taking five questions from audience
members who had not been preselected to pose questions.
Obama began his prepared remarks by emphasizing how expensive the
current $2.5 trillion healthcare system is. “Every day in this country, more and
more Americans are forced to worry about not just getting well, but whether
they can afford to get well,” Obama said. “Millions more wonder if they can afford the routine care necessary to stay well. Even for those who have health
insurance, rising premiums are straining family budgets to the breaking point — premiums that have doubled over the last nine years, and have grown at a rate
three times faster than wages. Let me repeat that: Health care premiums have gone up three times faster than wages have gone up. So desperately needed
procedures and treatments are put off because the price is too high. And all it takes is a single illness to wipe out a lifetime of savings.”
“Now, employers aren’t faring any better,” Obama continued. “The cost of health care has helped leave big corporations like GM and Chrysler at a competitive
disadvantage with their foreign counterparts. For small businesses, it’s even worse. One month, they’re forced to cut back on health care benefits. The next
month, they've got to drop coverage. The month after that, they have no choice but to start laying off workers.
“For the government, the growing cost of Medicare and Medicaid is the biggest threat to our federal deficit, bigger than Social Security, bigger than all the
investments that we've made so far. So if you're worried about spending and you're worried about deficits, you need to be worried about the cost of health care.
“We have the most expensive health care system in the world, bar none. We spend almost 50 percent more per person on health care than the next most
expensive nation — 50 percent more. But here's the thing, Green Bay: We're not any healthier for it; we don't necessarily have better outcomes.”
Much of the criticism of Obama’s healthcare reform has charged that he wants to “socialize” medicine in the United States and radically change the way
that healthcare is provided in the United States. Obama emphasized that his healthcare reform package will incrementally adjust the system, not replace it.
“I know that there are millions of Americans who are happy, who are content with their health care coverage — they like their plan, they value their relationship
with their doctor,” Obama said. “And no matter how we reform health care, I intend to keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your
doctor; if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. So don't let people scare you. If you like what you've got, we're not going
to make you change. But in order to preserve what's best about our health care system, we have to fix what doesn't work.”
Some of Obama’s reform ideas have met with little resistance. “In some cases there's broad agreement on the steps we should take,” Obama observed. “In
the Recovery Act, we've already made investments in health IT — that's information technologies — and electronic medical records that will reduce medical
errors, save lives, save money, and still ensure privacy. We also need to invest in prevention and wellness programs to help Americans live longer and healthier
lives.”
Obama also noted that there are economic inefficiencies in the healthcare system that have been driving up costs while not contributing to increased
quality in healthcare. “We should change the warped incentives that reward doctors and hospitals based on how many tests and procedures they do even if those
tests and procedures aren't necessary or result from medical mistakes,” Obama said. “Doctors didn't get into the medical profession to be bean counters or paper
pushers. They're not interested in spending all their time acting like lawyers or business executives. They became doctors to heal people, and that's what we
have to free them to be able to do. But the real cost savings will come from changing the incentives of a system that automatically equates expensive care with
better care. We've got to move from addressing — we've got to address flaws that increase profits but don't actually increase the quality of care for patients.”
When people are uninsured, they often get their healthcare needs met in emergency rooms and other expensive venues. “We also have to provide Americans
who can't afford health insurance more affordable options,” Obama emphasized. “That's an economic imperative but it's also a moral imperative, because we
know that when somebody doesn't have health insurance, they're forced to get treatment at the ER, and all of us end up paying for it. The average family pays a
thousand dollars in extra premiums to pay for people going to the emergency room who don't have health insurance. So you're already subsidizing other folks;
it's just you're subsidizing the most expensive care. You'd be better off subsidizing to make sure they were getting regular checkups. We're already paying for it.
It's just it's hidden in your premiums.”
While Obama emphasized that some of the cost of healthcare reform can be met through creating efficiencies in the system and routing out waste and
fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, he also emphasized that the transition to a new system would be a costly one.
“Now, covering more Americans is obviously going to require some money up front,” Obama said. “We'll save money when they stop going to the
emergency room and getting regular checkups, but it's going to cost some money up front. Helping families lower their costs, there's going to be a cost to this.
And it comes at a time when we don't have a lot of extra money to spend, let's be honest.”
Obama pledged that healthcare reform will not make a net contribution to the federal deficit over the next ten years with initial deficits being covered by
surpluses and savings later on. And while it is costly, Obama emphasized that the nation could Ill-afford not to. “After decades of inaction, we have finally
decided to fix what's broken about health care in America,” Obama said in conclusion. “We have finally decided it's time to give every American quality health
care at an affordable cost. We have decided to invest in reforms that will bring costs down now. We've decided to bring costs down now and in the future. And
we've decided to change the system so that our doctors and health care providers are free to do what they trained and studied and worked so hard to do: to
make people well again. That's what we can do in this country right now, at this moment.”
Next issue” The Q&A session
insurance, rising premiums are straining family budgets to the breaking point — premiums that have doubled over the last nine years, and have grown at a rate
three times faster than wages. Let me repeat that: Health care premiums have gone up three times faster than wages have gone up. So desperately needed
procedures and treatments are put off because the price is too high. And all it takes is a single illness to wipe out a lifetime of savings.”
“Now, employers aren’t faring any better,” Obama continued. “The cost of health care has helped leave big corporations like GM and Chrysler at a competitive
disadvantage with their foreign counterparts. For small businesses, it’s even worse. One month, they’re forced to cut back on health care benefits. The next
month, they've got to drop coverage. The month after that, they have no choice but to start laying off workers.
“For the government, the growing cost of Medicare and Medicaid is the biggest threat to our federal deficit, bigger than Social Security, bigger than all the
investments that we've made so far. So if you're worried about spending and you're worried about deficits, you need to be worried about the cost of health care.
“We have the most expensive health care system in the world, bar none. We spend almost 50 percent more per person on health care than the next most
expensive nation — 50 percent more. But here's the thing, Green Bay: We're not any healthier for it; we don't necessarily have better outcomes.”
Much of the criticism of Obama’s healthcare reform has charged that he wants to “socialize” medicine in the United States and radically change the way
that healthcare is provided in the United States. Obama emphasized that his healthcare reform package will incrementally adjust the system, not replace it.
“I know that there are millions of Americans who are happy, who are content with their health care coverage — they like their plan, they value their relationship
with their doctor,” Obama said. “And no matter how we reform health care, I intend to keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your
doctor; if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. So don't let people scare you. If you like what you've got, we're not going
to make you change. But in order to preserve what's best about our health care system, we have to fix what doesn't work.”
Some of Obama’s reform ideas have met with little resistance. “In some cases there's broad agreement on the steps we should take,” Obama observed. “In
the Recovery Act, we've already made investments in health IT — that's information technologies — and electronic medical records that will reduce medical
errors, save lives, save money, and still ensure privacy. We also need to invest in prevention and wellness programs to help Americans live longer and healthier
lives.”
Obama also noted that there are economic inefficiencies in the healthcare system that have been driving up costs while not contributing to increased
quality in healthcare. “We should change the warped incentives that reward doctors and hospitals based on how many tests and procedures they do even if those
tests and procedures aren't necessary or result from medical mistakes,” Obama said. “Doctors didn't get into the medical profession to be bean counters or paper
pushers. They're not interested in spending all their time acting like lawyers or business executives. They became doctors to heal people, and that's what we
have to free them to be able to do. But the real cost savings will come from changing the incentives of a system that automatically equates expensive care with
better care. We've got to move from addressing — we've got to address flaws that increase profits but don't actually increase the quality of care for patients.”
When people are uninsured, they often get their healthcare needs met in emergency rooms and other expensive venues. “We also have to provide Americans
who can't afford health insurance more affordable options,” Obama emphasized. “That's an economic imperative but it's also a moral imperative, because we
know that when somebody doesn't have health insurance, they're forced to get treatment at the ER, and all of us end up paying for it. The average family pays a
thousand dollars in extra premiums to pay for people going to the emergency room who don't have health insurance. So you're already subsidizing other folks;
it's just you're subsidizing the most expensive care. You'd be better off subsidizing to make sure they were getting regular checkups. We're already paying for it.
It's just it's hidden in your premiums.”
While Obama emphasized that some of the cost of healthcare reform can be met through creating efficiencies in the system and routing out waste and
fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, he also emphasized that the transition to a new system would be a costly one.
“Now, covering more Americans is obviously going to require some money up front,” Obama said. “We'll save money when they stop going to the
emergency room and getting regular checkups, but it's going to cost some money up front. Helping families lower their costs, there's going to be a cost to this.
And it comes at a time when we don't have a lot of extra money to spend, let's be honest.”
Obama pledged that healthcare reform will not make a net contribution to the federal deficit over the next ten years with initial deficits being covered by
surpluses and savings later on. And while it is costly, Obama emphasized that the nation could Ill-afford not to. “After decades of inaction, we have finally
decided to fix what's broken about health care in America,” Obama said in conclusion. “We have finally decided it's time to give every American quality health
care at an affordable cost. We have decided to invest in reforms that will bring costs down now. We've decided to bring costs down now and in the future. And
we've decided to change the system so that our doctors and health care providers are free to do what they trained and studied and worked so hard to do: to
make people well again. That's what we can do in this country right now, at this moment.”
Next issue” The Q&A session