Back on message, Obama blasts healthcare delay
Published: July 25, 2009
Updated 8 months ago
US President Barack Obama renewed his push for health reform Saturday, arguing he felt “a sense of urgency” in moving his proposal forward and blasting those advocating delay.
“Today, after a lot of hard work in Congress, we are closer than ever before to finally passing reform that will reduce costs, expand coverage, and provide more choices for our families and businesses,” Obama said in his weekly radio address.
“That is why I feel such a sense of urgency about moving this process forward.”
Obama wants Congress to approve his health care reform proposals by the end of the year in order to fulfill one of his key campaign promises — providing health care to the 46 million Americans, some 15 percent of the population, who currently do not have any medical coverage.
Obama’s health care plan includes a government insurance option, which has been fiercely criticized by Republicans.
The US president also hopes to cut in half runaway healthcare expenditures which, if unchecked, are forecast to gobble up one-fifth of US gross domestic product by 2013.
But he has met increasing resistance from both Republicans and even some among his own Democratic Party worried about the costs of such a reform.
In a setback for the president, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that lawmakers had given up on a vote before September.
In his address, Obama said that calls for a delay in passing the measure were being used by reform opponents as a tactic designed to stop the proposed changes.
“Some have even suggested that, regardless of its merits, health care reform should be stopped as a way to inflict political damage on my administration,” the president said.
“I’ll leave it to them to explain that to the American people,” he continued. “What I’m concerned about is the damage that’s being done right now to the health of our families, the success of our businesses, and the long-term fiscal stability of our government.”
This video was published to YouTube by the White House on Saturday, July 25, 2009.
With AFP.
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It’s a real shame that the President doesn’t have an ally in Congress as strong as the ailing Senator Kennedy would have been. And a shame that the Senator didn’t have two more years of good health before this legislation (that he has wanted for 30 years) was on the table.
Hillary Clinton would have been a great ally. I wonder if Obama is still happy about choosing Clinton for Secretary of State. I’ve never seen Clinton look as happy as she did when she was the Senator from New York. Now Clinton is once again in a role pretty much dictated by the President. And Clinton was advocating health care reform 15 years ago even though she took a lot of abuse for it from the GOP. Clinton would have been a strong ally for Obama in the Senate on this issue. Now she can only watch from the sidelines.
The Dems need to step it up and get the Blue Dogs on board. Hopefully they can accomplish this by the end of summer.
this stalling of health reform with the ultimate goal of killing it, is just the culling of americans. thin out the herd. i am sick of all of them. obama vote health reform in by reformation f___ the scabs who are trying to cull us.
The day congress gets rid of vampire insurance company middle men in our healthcare, that will be a day of GOOD HEALTHCARE once again. Insurance companies in the healthcare system is exactly like the mafia going from shop to shop demanding their cut for “protection.” It is extortionist racketeering plain and simple. Think responsibly ……YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAND YOUR MONEY OVER TO SOMEONE WHO SKIMS OFF THE TOP THEN PAYS YOUR DOCTOR. AND ALSO TELLS HIM YOU CANNOT HAVE MEDICAL PROCEEDURES UNLES THEY SAY SO. …. CHEATING YOU, KILLING YOU. IT IS THEY WHO DRIVE THE COSTS OF HEALTHCARE TO UNAFFORDABLE LEVELS. THE HIGHER THEY HAVE DRIVEN THE COSTS THE MORE YOU THINK YOU NEED THEM. … FALLACY! ….. And Obama condones it.
It is a fact that SINGLE PAYER healthcare isn’t even being considered in the healthcare talks by Obama because the first and last time they held a table discussion including SINGLE PAYER,…it knocked down the insurance companies at each and every turn on cost effectiveness and practical, quality healthcare. But the insurance bribery business is alive and well and the insurance co’s get their way, forcing you to pay healthcare extortion payments.
hey worm wood, ya think thats funny,wait till recess aka vacation is over,then we will witness some twisted thought processes,I got an idea ,,,just now,why don’t all the people that make people sick,die first,it’s just a kiss away,infiltrate,doa_out
Perhaps Congress is dragging its feet is because passing this draconian bill will end hundreds of cushy Congressional careers. How about two itty bitty parts of the bill that are causing delay: one states that you can keep your own privately purchased health insurance policy only so long as you remain employed by the company who contracted it. If you change employers you will be required to obtain the “competitive” government plan no matter what is offered to existing employees at your new company. This will slowly erode the customer base for private insurers, ultimately driving them out of business. Then there is the provision to delay or deny health care for older citizens (like they already do in England) because the potential return in taxes from them are lower. Once diagnosed with a treatable illness, Seniors will be stonewalled by the bureaucracy until their condition is terminal. But don’t worry, this provision will include regular “counseling” to pursuade you of the benefits of suicide. Don’t take my word for it, Read the Bill. Why is it that people believe that government can somehow fix health care costs, when it is specifically government regulations and programs that have driven the prices so high. How many times would you take your car back to the same mechanic if he repeatedly failed to fix your car properly or created new problems every time he worked on it?
For those of you who hate dealing with insurance company bureaucracies, just wait until the state controls everything. Now you at least have the recourse of changing carriers, later, there will be only one — and they have guns and the power to use them. Anyone who is advocating government health care is an idiot who deserves it. Don’t foist your lunacy on the rest of us you morons.
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