Here, according to 'Organizing for America' are the main points:
The President's Plan for Health Reform "It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don't. And it will lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government." " PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA | ||
If You Have Health Insurance, the President's Plan:
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If You Don't Have Insurance, the President's Plan:
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For All Americans, the President's Plan:
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OK, the first thing I see is that there is no Public Option - just Public Exchanges. Will the national "high risk pool truly be national, with the clout that comes from representing large numbers of people to negotiate lower prices from Big Pharma (and keeping in mind Obama's back room dea l not to demand too much from them - nothing beyond $80 Billion in future cuts)?
Perhaps you want to read the speech yourself here. "...we will also create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead." I can hear even this sensible proposal being labeled Obama's Death Panels already, but it really does not deal with any specific patients, but just with how to rein in wasteful costs (are we not against waste?) in general - something that is long, long overdue and which the Conservatives claim they want. The Mayo Clinic and Geisinger does this routinely and save a tremendous amount of money, while improving care, so this is nothing new, just applied outside a particular hospital. This is called scientific analysis, not death panels, or rationing, so it looks good to me, but we will need to monitor it. We didn't really think ANY legislation would be signed and we'd be done, did we?
I find myself agreeing with the President's final statement:
"Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing, Mr. Obama said. "Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most. And more will die as a result. We know these things to be true.
And with his assertion, made more strongly than he has in the past that many of his critics simply want no reform at all, which is not an option, either for our uncovered, or undercovered citizens (more than 100 million), or for the fiscal reality of our country.
So, though I have reservations, and much more work needs to be done - much of it not even directly in the health field itself (support healthy school lunches, daily physical education, make a pound of apples cost less than a pound of potato chips etc.) , I am willing to sign my name in support of these steps. Are you?