President Obama used his weekly address to the nation to ask members of Congress to “move forward together” on health care reform after his White House summit next week.
“We know the American people want us to reform our health insurance system. We know where the broad areas of agreement are. And we know where the sources of disagreement lie,” Obama said.
“After debating this issue exhaustively for a year, let’s move forward together. Next week is our chance to finally reform our health insurance system so it works for families and small businesses. It’s our chance to finally give Americans the peace of mind of knowing that they’ll be able to have affordable coverage when they need it most,” he said.
Citing the rate hikes proposed by Anthem Blue Cross and the new report showing more increases are expected across the country, Obama called on Democrats and Republicans to do something about it.
“That’s what the future is on track to look like. But it’s not what the future has to look like,” he said.
Read the address in full here or watch below.
Late Update: Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) gave the Republican address today, which also focused on health care.
He said:
Americans are demanding that President Obama and the Democrats in control of Congress scrap their misguided plan of a government takeover of health care. They don’t want a 2,000-page bill that threatens jobs and drives up health premiums; they already have enough challenges to deal with in their daily lives. They want Washington to start over with a step-by-step approach to health care reform that begins with reducing costs and ensures they can keep their current plan if they like it.
And more:
Just as important, Republicans get the job done without cutting Medicare, without raising taxes, and without piling more debt on our kids and grandkids. All the details of our plan are available at healthcare.gop.gov.
Republicans remain ready to discuss these ideas with President Obama and move forward in a bipartisan way to lower health care costs.
Watch:
