The New Health Dialogue

President Barack Obama talked health policy and health politics at the House Democratic retreat this week, predicting that Americans would grow more enthusiastic about health care reform as they came to understand it better, and promised he would do his part to make that happen before November's congressional elections. Here's what he had to say:

 

Today we are on the doorstep of accomplishing something that Washington has been talking about since Teddy Roosevelt was President, and that is reforming health care and health insurance here in America. Now, believe me, I know how big a lift this has been.  I see the polls.  I get 40,000 letters every day, and I read a stack of them each night.  I catch the occasional blog post or cable clip that breathlessly declares what something means for a political party, without really talking much about what it means for a country.  I know that the virtues of this legislation for Americans with insurance and Americans without it have been entirely obscured by fear and distraction.

 

But I also know what happens once we get this done, once we saw this law -- sign this bill into law.  The American people will suddenly learn that this bill does things they like and doesn't do things that people have been trying to say it does.  Their worst fears will prove groundless, and the American people's hope for a fair shake from their insurance companies for quality, affordable health care they need will finally be realized.

 

This year alone, this reform will ban some of the worst practices of the insurance industry forever.  They'll no longer be allowed to refuse coverage for preexisting conditions for children or drop coverage when folks get sick and need it the most.  They'll no longer be allowed to impose restrictive annual limits on the amount of coverage that you receive, lifetime limits on the amounts of benefits received.  They'll be required to offer free preventive care -- like checkups and routine tests and mammograms -- at no cost.  Patients will have rights.  They will get what they pay for.  And that's just the beginning.

 

All told, it's reform that finally offers Americans the security of knowing that they'll have quality, affordable health care whether they lose their job or change their job or they get sick.  (Applause.)  And by the way, it's reform that begins to bring down costs for families and businesses and governments.

 

And for those of you who are concerned about the deficit, when you've got the Congressional Budget Office that says in the second 10 years this brings down the deficit by a trillion dollars, in the first 10 years it brings it down by over $100 billion, you have nothing to apologize for when it comes to talking about deficit reduction.  The irresponsible thing would have been to do nothing, and that's not what you've decided to do.  This represents the biggest step towards deficit reduction in years. 

So, I know everybody in the media is all in a tizzy -- "Oh, what's this going to mean politically?"  Well, let me tell you something.  If Republicans want to campaign against what we've done by standing up for the status quo and for insurance companies over American families and businesses, that is a fight I want to have.   If their best idea is to return to the bad policies and the bad ideas of yesterday, they are going to lose that argument.  What are they going to say?  "Well, you know, the old system really worked well; let's go back to the way it was"?  That's not going to appeal to seniors who are now seeing the possibility of that doughnut hole finally closing and so they can finally get discounts on their prescriptions.   That's not going to appeal to the small businesses who find out all the tax credits that they're going to get for doing right by their employees -- something that they have been wanting to do, but may not have been able to afford.  It's not going to be very appealing to Americans who for the first time are going to find out that they can provide coverage to their children, their dependents, all the way up to the age of 26 or 27. 

 

I'll be out there waging a great campaign from one end of the country to the other, telling Americans with insurance or without what they stand to gain -- about the arsenal of consumer protections; about the long-awaited stability that they're going to begin to experience.  And I'm going to tell them that  I am proud we are putting the future of America before the politics of the moment -- the next generation before the next election.  And that, after all, is what we were sent up here to do:  standing up for the American people against the special interests; solve problems that we've been talking about for decades; make their lives a little bit better; make tough choices sometimes when they're unpopular.  And that's something that every one of you who support this bill can be proud to campaign on in November. 

 

Now, I know that some of the fights we've been going through have been tough.  I know that some of you have gotten beaten up at home. Some of the fights that we're going to go through this year are going to be tough as well.  But just remember why each of us got into public service in the first place -- we found something that was worth fighting for.  There was something we thought was important enough that we were willing to stand up in the public square, risk loss, risk embarrassment, because we knew in our hearts that something wasn't right, that we weren't in some measure living up to the American ideal, and that we thought that if we got involved and engaged in the democratic process, somehow we could make it a little bit better.

 

We've asked the American people for the chance to lead at this defining moment, and they have entrusted that extraordinary privilege to us.  And if we live up to that responsibility, if we're fighting for the American people with the same sense of urgency that they feel in their own lives -- then I am absolutely confident we're going to be able to look back at the end of this year and say that things are getting better; that we've reignited confidence in our economy, in America, and in each other; that we've restored a sense of responsibility here in Washington; and that, above all, we've begun to renew the American Dream and keep it alive not just for this time but for all time.