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Obama Tells AMA US Health-Care Costs Are a 'Ticking Time Bomb'
President Barack Obama called the cost of health care a "ticking time-bomb" that threatens to slow the nation's economic recovery as he pushed a massive reform plan during an appearance today in Chicago before the nation's largest doctors group.
U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the health care system at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago, Illinois, June 15, 2009. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst) "We are spending over $2 trillion a year on health care -- almost 50 percent more per person than the next most costly nation," he said during a nearly hour-long speech before the American Medical Association. "For all this spending, more of our citizens are uninsured, the quality of our care is often lower and we aren't any healthier."
Awaiting the president at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and elsewhere were protesters who don't think his approach goes far enough, as well as at least some doctors who are concerned he might go too far.
Still, Obama was warmly received by the AMA convention, which gave him numerous standing ovations and booed just once, when he said he does not support caps on malpractice awards.
The appearance marked Obama's latest effort to pitch a massive health care proposal -- the top legislative priority of his young presidency -- that is expected to dominate the congressional calendar in the coming weeks ahead of his goal of October passage.
"The cost of our health care is a threat to our economy," he said. "It is an escalating burden on our families and businesses. It's a ticking time-bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America."
Obama also pointed to the costs incurred by companies to provide health care.
"A big part of what led General Motors and Chrysler into trouble in recent decades were the huge costs they racked up providing health care for their workers," he said. "If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM: paying more, getting less and going broke."
The president called said the status quo cannot be sustained. "Reform is not a luxury, it is a necessity," he said.
Making just his second visit to Chicago since the inauguration, Obama landed at O'Hare International Airport at 10:15 a.m. in advance of the midday speech.
After getting off Air Force One, Obama shook hands and spoke for a few minutes with Gov. Pat Quinn and Mayor Richard Daley. He was then flown by helicopter to parking lot near Soldier Field, preventing the traffic snarl that a motorcade would have created.
Obama sought to preempt attacks against his plan.
"I understand that fear. I understand the cynicism. There are scars left over from past efforts at reform," he said, pointing to reform efforts that have taken place since Teddy Roosevelt.
"While significant individual reforms have been made -- such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the children's health insurance program -- efforts at comprehensive reform that covers everyone and brings down costs have largely failed," he said.
Speaking before about 2,200 people, Obama stressed that his proposal will not add to the federal deficit, even though there will be significant up-front costs. His proposals call for $950 billion in revenue and savings to pay for reform.
"We know the moment is right for health care reform," he said. "We know this is an historic opportunity we've never seen before and may not see again. But we also know that there are those who will try and scuttle this opportunity no matter what, who will use the same scare tactics and fear-mongering that's worked in the past. They will give dire warnings about socialized medicine and government takeovers; long lines and rationed care; decisions made by bureaucrats and not doctors."
As a candidate and president, Obama has long maintained that high health care costs are hurting America's competitiveness in the global economy and that coverage must be found for most of the nearly 50 million Americans who now lack insurance.
Since returning from a recent trip to the Middle East and Europe, Obama has primarily focused on health care reform, pushing Congress and various constituencies to act this year.
He has outlined proposals to lower costs and raise taxes to pay for an overhaul of the nation's ever-expanding health care system, including the creation of a government-funded "public" option.
Republican leaders have joined Obama and Democrats in supporting health care reform, although they have suggested a public option could be unfair to private insurers and could easily become another bloated government program.
In a conference call with reporters sponsored by the Republican National Committee, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a doctor attending the AMA conference, charged that physicians are concerned Obama's plan will mean that medical decisions will be moved from patients and doctors to a "government-takeover."
On Thursday, Obama made the first physical stop in his health care campaign in Green Bay, Wis., where he appeared before a friendly audience at a town hall-style event.
He was greeted by demonstrators holding signs that said such things as "No socialism" and "Taxed Enough Yet?" Some conservative opponents have also begun to label his plans "ObamaCare."
Monday's audience was a tougher crowd than the one in Wisconsin, with many of those in attendance more educated on the issue and also more politically diverse. The AMA has already expressed concern over Obama's call for expanded public insurance.
Though the AMA has lost some of its clout in recent years, the Chicago-based group is still the largest physician lobby, representing a quarter of a million doctors.
The House of Delegates that Obama will address has an even broader reach, representing 180 state and national medical societies that include everything from family doctors and psychiatrists to cardiologists and neurosurgeons.
How to pay for the overhaul is one of the key questions.
During the weekend, Obama suggested some of the money for his proposal could come from $313 billion in government savings during the next decade that he hopes will come from greater Medicare efficiency, lower drug prices and a reduction in the uninsured.
The $313 billion would be in addition to the $635 billion "down payment" he put in his 2010 budget for the health care proposal.
The cuts in government health care spending proposed over the weekend have already triggered push back from hospitals and others in the medical industry.
Obama, meanwhile, has said repeatedly that he supports a public option that would bring more competition to the private insurance market. What is unclear, however, is what that public option would look like.
Doctors meeting the AMA's annual policy-making House of Delegates session have said they are anxious to hear the president's proposal, which has thus far been devoid of details.
AMA leaders said they are opposed to a government-funded option if it were to expand the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly to those under age 65, saying it would compound a "broken system" doctors complain has reduced physician payments and is outdated in how it operates.
Members, however, say they would favor a public option that was administered by private plans, such as the health insurance provided to federal employees and members of Congress.
Some other doctor groups, however, favor a public option and plan to try to let Obama know that. A group called Health Care for America Now plans to demonstrate beginning at 10:45 a.m. in front of the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center, 450 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive.
In addition, advocates of a single-payer, government run approach that would eliminate private insurance companies have planned a protest near the Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave. The group, which includes long-time single payer advocate, Physicians for a National Health Program, planned to gather before the president spoke.
Also protesting Obama's visit is the Pro-Life Action League, which is calling on him to "follow through on his desire to reduce abortion" by withdrawing federal funding for Planned Parenthood and taking other actions.
Several AMA delegates, who have been meeting in Chicago since Saturday, said they are thrilled the president decided to address them. Obama is the first president to speak before an AMA House of Delegates meeting since Republican Ronald Reagan did so in 1983.
AMA leaders say they felt snubbed during the failed health reform push of the early 1990s, an effort led by former President Bill Clinton and then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.
"We were left out the last time, and doctors remember that," said Dr. John McGill, of Bangor, Maine, an AMA delegate from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
After his speech, Obama will fly back to Washington, where his afternoon schedule calls for an Oval Office meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Also in Chicago today is White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who will headline a fundraiser to benefit the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Senate candidates.
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22 Comments so far
Show AllThe medical extortion cartel (insurance/pharma/AMA) repeatedly tell us how bad Medicare is. The reality is that Medicare delivers a reaonable quality of care at a cost that is 20 to 30% lower than the cartel would be delivering care for if Medicare did not exist. Medicare does this despite the 2003 legislation that prevents Medicare from negotiating drug prices.
Although Medicare is 20-30% less costly than a cartel monopoly would be, it is still quite expensive. The primary reason it is expensive is because ALL of the insured are 65 years of age or older. Anybody who stayed awake through Economics 1A knows that the older the average age of a medical insurance "pool" is, the more costly it will be to insure.
If Medicare were extended to a pool of over 300 million Americans the cost per person would drop dramatically.
Unfortunately, few Americans have any understanding of basic economics and are therefore very vulnerable to Madison Avenue's ability to hoodwink them. The cartel knows this and is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising and lobbying (in addition to years of bribes)to sell Americans yesterday's newspaper at twice the price of today's newspaper.
The AMA have long been a complicit party in the prevention of Single Payer becoming the health care delivery system of the USA; and are still so.
The AMA is going the way of print journalism: down---WAY down---but not yet out.
It is totally ridiculous to suggest that ANY medical decisions are being make by patients and their doctors now. It is the profit-driven insurance corporations that are driving any of these decisions as well as which drugs are prescribed. Often the most effective one is NOT on the insurance company's "formularies" -- the approved list of what they will pay for. Doctors are restricted to writing those prescriptions and often do not even tell the patient that there is a better alternative. They also have to waste time arguing with the bean-counters at the insurance corp over treatments.
SINGLE PAYER will take the profit-driven insurance corporations OUT of the driver's seat and re-direct the 30% "administrative costs" to pay for the uninsured. Medicare only has a 3% administrative cost.
We need to get the INSURANCE OUT of the reform over health care and have the same type of system as other countries have. They all have lower costs and better outcomes.FYI, the US is 37th according to the World Health Organization -- far far from the best healthcare in the world.///
My wife and I are immensely grateful for our medicare. She is 79 and I am 83. Without medicare we"d be in terrible financial shape. Lets help out our younger people similarly.
Maybe one less yacht for some doctors?
actually,
from what i have seen, and correct me if i am wrong.
doctors would get paid the same under a public program.
quite frankly, we really need to cancel any and all military base's on foreign soils. and then reduce our military on domestic soil by 20%.
even then, the single payer universal health care is still more efficient than private.
private = 15% GDP
single payer universal health care = 8%
Single payer IS the only way. But when I call Sen. George Voinovich and tell them that the majority of the public supports it, his office informs me that from the calls they've been getting, that's not the case. They were also unaware that the US ranks 37th in medical care quality. Senator Voinovich's "political ideology' does not support a single payer system. But they'll pass along my message...
Sen. Sherrod Brown's office assures me that they are working hard to write legislation that will be acceptable to Sen. Brown's philosophy which endorses a public option.
President Obama's representatives tell me that he is pushing for a public option because single payer won't pass the Senate. I opined that with his forceful encouragement they would.
I'm depressed and discouraged, but I'll keep calling, and writing, and I hope you all will, too.
A recent NYT report on the health care debate
noted:
“Mr. Obama neglected to mention that some centrist Democrats have qualms about a new government health plan. Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee, who is leading an effort to draft a health care bill, said Thursday that the public plan could take the form of an insurance cooperative that would be owned and operated for the benefit of its members, but not run by the government.”
But Baucus’s comment about a “cooperative that would be owned and operated for the benefit of its members” sort of reminded me that the entire United States was founded as “a cooperative that would be owned and operated for the benefit of its members (citizens)” for the benefit of our ‘commonwealth’.
Of course, that was back when the new citizens of this democratic Republic, “of, by and for the people” had just thrown off the British Empire with its indivisible tyrannies of crown political and royal corporatist economic oppressions --- and when the courageous American patriots would never have dreamed that the a similar corporatist political-economic Empire would ever rule their own ‘new-world’ country.
But as the saying goes, “new boss, just like the old boss”.
And so it goes that perhaps the best description of how the insurance and pharmaceutical corporations have captured and usurped iron-handed control of our previous “cooperative” democracy for the benefit of the people is contained in this scene and lines in Warren Beatty’s “Bulworth”:
Bulworth: Yo, everybody gonna get sick someday / But nobody knows how they gonna pay / Health care, managed care, HMOs / Ain't gonna work, no sir, not those / 'Cause the thing that's the same in every one of these / Is these motherfuckers there, the insurance companies!
Cheryl and Tanya: Insurance! Insurance!
Bulworth: Yeah, yeah / You can call it single-payer or Canadian way / Only socialized medicine will ever save the day! Come on now, lemme hear that dirty word - SOCIALISM!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6ag_2dg8nI&feature=related
[snip to scene with campaign manager]
Bulworth: What is it exactly you're concerned about, Murphy?
Dennis Murphy: I'm concerned that you stood up in front of three hundred people in a black church and told them that they were not a factor and never would be as long as we remain in the pocket of the insurance lobby!
Of course, Big insurance and Pharma don't have to worry because Obama is certainly no Bulworth ---- but he surely is Bullsomething.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
I would say call and write to Obama and say you will vote for Nader in 2012 if Obama does not fight for the Conyer's single payer bill.
You can state that since he is doing nothing about lost jobs, he better offer free healthcare that does not unduly add to the national debt since all drug and hospital costs will be negotiated as a group under the Conyer's bill.
Call or write now: http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/
And I would say you're a day late and a dollar short
and have consigned yourself to the dustbin of irrelevancy
you had your chance to vote third party
you blew it, and you better do more than just threaten to vote differently
which will only bring big horse laughs from the Democrats
Keep writing Obama about the bloodsucking parasites that call themselves the health insurance industry, as I continually do; and, ask your friends to do the same. We have to do it to counteract the incessant acts of the the of the thumb of big business putting a bruise on the President's shoulder (in the beautiful song by Donna the Buffalo, "When Push Comes To Shove"; see them at the annual Grassroots Festival in Trumansburg, NY in July; no frickin' corporate sponsers, only $ to support the arts, education, and the fight against aids).
Sorry, about the excursion, but I'm passionate about many things in this amazing and complex world we're all in. But, tho I'm very disappointed with many of Obama's decisions, I think there
is a certain open-mindedness to him, and that it is we whoare conscious of the situation who must provide the pressure that he might actually welcome on him, and our Congresspeople, and wherever we can on all forms of the media, and our friends and acquaintences. Requires effort; but, I see nothing but burning passion from the commenters on this site, and yes in the original posts.
John Kennedy said the only reason he was able to change his policy on Viet Nam (a change aborted by his assasination) was the arsing of protest against the war (nascent as the protest was at that time). It is this kind of pressure we must continually put on Obama to give him an excuse to abandon his paymasters, so he can say I need you no more, I've the people w/me who support what I really believe.
Am I dreaming? Maybe, but maybe not.
Two thousand years ago a Roman senator suggested that all slaves wear white armbands to better identify them. “No,” said a wiser senator. “If they see how many of them there are, they may r.e.v.o.l.t.”
The insurance industry control that has been consolidated at the top of our government, including members of Congress, know that keeping us unseen and divided about what we can agree upon has worked to their advantage.
To bring it to their attention every single payer advocate and supporter needs to begin wearing a BLUE BANDANA.
The bandana r.e.v.o.l.u.t.i.o.n can reach critical mass very quickly. Remember while we are waging computer battles the health care insurance industry is succeeding in destroying us because we can’t even see who “us” is. I say stand out where you are and let me see you.
START TODAY wearing a BLUE BANDANA.
A traveling visible symbol lets us know in a gas line, in a supermarket or at work who you are and what you stand for. Let it be a conversation starter to explain single payer if someone asks why everyone is wearing blue bandanas
Our own Roman Senators in the American Empire (Congress) are significant to us because we recognize the players. We see them. They are visible to each of us. When they see how many of us there are, will we see then what they think about conducting “business as usual.”
We need to SEE bandanas………………………………….and so do THEY
I like it, good idea.
Help pass it along Please. We are in touch with some of the large organizations that will be marching in DC on the 25th and they are asking their members to start wearing one now. Send it to your email tree and ask them to pass it along.
The argument from the Roman senators was a good one. It's time they see how many of us there are.
The only time the Drs boed Obama was when they wanted caps on malpractice insurance.
Typical-they deliver substandard care when through medicaid.
Single payer is the only way to eliminate the disparities in care.
I do not feel as though my taxes should go to free health care for teachers, politicans and ceos of businesses.
I do not think the Drs should get paid less. The hospitals and insurance companies should as they call themselves religious facilities and non profits.
Healthcare, NOT warfare!
The money can be drummed up real quick for wall street banks and wars but oh, the wailing and nashing of teeth when it's for healthcare. Vote NO to the war funding bill. Impeach Geithner for colluding with banks to pretend to be paying back tarp money just so they won't have to taylor their bloated money grabbing and audit the fed. Then, all of a sudden there will be plenty of money for healthcare, Why haven't more people come out and said how the crying about how social security was going bankrupt and how medicare was bankrupting the government was (and still is) PEANUTS compared to tarp funds, war budgets and bank bailouts? The multi-trillion dollar amounts that we are now on the hook for came about in one lousy year thanks to Hanky panky Paulson and Geithner. It was going to be a decade or more before the social security and medicare programs would even BEGIN to be under funded. This is absolute bullshit. We need to stop these fucking war profiteers backed by banker greedsters before they destroy us all with their lies and larceny.
We must NEVER allow politicians to talk about chincing on entitlement programs without answering to their war and wall street largesse. Money is money. Stop the bullshit, politicians. Graft WILL NOT PAY this time.
AGG, excellent points.
Bring America Back !!!! ..........I would've thought the time to read the riot act, and speak heavy to the AMA was when they started charging $100 per band-aid at Emergency Rooms, and when they began dumping patients on the street when they had no insurance !!
**The healthcare horse has been out of the barn for a long time now !!
**The Govt needs to get thousands of copies of Michael Moore's DVD "Sicko" and distribute it to all Big AMA outfits.
"Sicko" explains the real and true state of US Healthcare, and the solution is there too: FREE MEDICAL CARE TO ALL AMERICANS BECAUSE WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS.
civil behavior,
I like the bandana idea and find the tale of the rattled Roman senator most appropriate, unfortunately in my community sporting a "blue" one shows support for the CRIPS gang and could unwittingly produce an immediate need for some serious, overpriced "healthcare." Is there no other color of bandana left which doen't signal something to somebody? positive or negative?
JBCracker@gmail.com
I lost the battle of "any color" bandana in the board meeting we had but I would certainly not be too afraid of sporting a blue one tied to your bag or briefcase if you don't look like you might be a CRIPS member. Besides if this thing goes nationwide and every granny and kid is wearing one the CRIPS will lose their valued symbol which could be a good thing. In any case get a really colorful one and tie it on to your belt loop or a bag. No one is going to think your a member unless you are wearing it like the thugs do.
Since you also left your email address I will send you all the things we are plannig and doing here in South Florida. Try to connect with local groups through the Organizing for America website. I'm sure their must be some people who are doing things for single payer in your area. It's a good website to hook up with some other local activists.
Let me know if I can be of any other help. civilsociety@bellsouth.net
Senator Baucus: When you take the obvious solution off the table with the bogus argument that the government can't run it (would that include social security? medicare? the military? roads, bridges, and parks?) it's obvious you are simply afraid the moneyed interests will work against your election.
Have you considered that the people will refuse to elect those that propagate wasteful corporate profits (the United Health CEO retired with a 1 Billion dollar package, I understand) and an unnecessary (30% overhead) bureaucracy whose sole purpose is to screen and deny health coverage to raise profits.
It's not about HEALTH anymore ... hasn't been since private enterprise got involved. ONLY SINGLE PAYER, UNIVERSAL COVERAGE will solve the puzzle .. we absolutely need the English and/or Canadian system.
If we can rid ourselves of the telephone solicitation industry, why not Big Pharma, Big Health Insurance, Big Hospitals, etc? Where are the public polls that support "taking single payer off the table?" ... there aren't any, just a gutless spineless electa-gencia. We need to turn you ALL out and start over.
It seems to me a simple idea, if it were to viral on the net, might turn this whole thing around. Let's suppose our elected officials ARE reacting to the financial pressures from big donors. What if we, the people, ask a simple question on EVERY REQUEST for DONATIONS ... from the DNC, the RNC, the other campaign requests that come daily.."Do you support Single payer?" "If not don't ever ask me for more funds". That act alone saves the very money our elected officials use to ignore our wishes and instantly makes us competitive with the big corporate donors ... take that Baucus!
"Republican leaders ... have suggested a public option could be unfair to private insurers..."
i.e. the fence around the chicken house is unfair to the foxes
..."and could easily become another bloated government program."
i.e. like Medicare, with 3% overhead compared to private insurance with 30% overhead