American Psychiatric Association
RE: Obama News Conference Preview
As you know, President Obama will hold a news conference this evening focused on health reform. I thought you would be interested in an advanced look at the President's message as put out on background by the White House. As of this update, two of three House Committees have approved the House health reform bill (H.R. 3200). The third, Energy and Commerce, continues to work on reform, but Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is facing a tough challenge from dissident "Blue Dogs" (fiscally conservative Democrats) who are unhappy with the cost of the overall reform package and are demanding more offsetting spending reductions. The Senate HELP Committee has, as you know, approved its version of reform legislation, but the Senate Finance Committee has yet to unveil its own proposal, which will include Medicaid and Medicare provisions along with financing provisions.
From the White House: Playing Politics with America's Health
The need for health reform is urgent and indisputable.
*Over the past decade, premiums have doubled; out-of-pocket costs have shot up by a third; and deductibles have continued to climb. And yet, even as America's families have been battered by spiraling health care costs, health insurance companies and their executives have reaped windfall profits from a broken system.
*Yet, there are some in this town who are trying to perpetuate the status quo by fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests and playing politics with the physical and financial health of American families.
*Just last weekend, one Republican Senator said, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."
*And a leading political strategist urged fellow Republicans to "resist the temptation" to be "constructive or, at least responsible" and instead work to kill health care reform.
But what these defenders of the status quo fail to understand is that isn't about President Obama or Washington politics. It's about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses, and breaking America's economy.
If we fail to act now to contain skyrocketing costs, everyone's insurance will be in jeopardy. Premiums will continue to rise, benefits will erode, and the number of uninsured Americans will swell. Business will continue to be forced to drop coverage, lay off employees, or even shutter their doors. And America's deficit will continue to explode.
Closer than Ever Before
But despite the retread attacks and some familiar Washington hand-wringing, we are closer than ever before to health care reform that lowers costs, guarantees coverage, and provides more choice for all Americans.
The bills coming out of Congress represent a hard-earned consensus, and broad agreement about how to move forward. The striking amount of common ground between the bills both bodes well for success and provides an outline of what our final health reform bill will look like.
*Each bill will extend coverage and include unprecedented insurance protections for the American people.
*You won't be denied coverage by an insurance company because of a pre-existing condition.
*You won't have to lose health insurance if you change jobs, lose your job, or start a small business.
*And you won't lose your health insurance if you get sick.
*Each bill protects and promotes choice.
*Americans will be able to compare the price and quality of different health care plans, and pick the plan they want.
*If you like your current plan, you will be able to keep it.
*And each bill provides for a public option that will keep insurance companies honest, ensuring the competition necessary to make coverage more affordable.
Each bill emphasizes prevention and wellness and includes out-of-pocket limits that will help ensure that families don't go bankrupt because of illness.
*And each bill improves oversight while cracking down on waste.
*Each will help reduce unwarranted giveaways to insurance companies in Medicare.
*And each will provide incentives so that patients get the best care, not just the most expensive care.
*Finally, the consensus is not limited to Congress. We have forged a coalition for change that simply hasn't existed before.
*Health care providers have agreed to do their part to reduce the rate of growth in health care spending.
*The pharmaceutical industry has agreed to spending reductions that will make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. Hospitals have agreed to bring down costs.
*And the American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association, who represent the millions of nurses and doctors who know our health care system best, have announced their support for reform.
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