President Obama today described the health care reform bill as a “patients’ Bill of Rights on steroids,” adding that “Congress owes the American people a final up or down vote.”
Stumping for health care reform in Strongsville, Ohio, Obama said: “I’m here because of countless others who have been forced to face the most terrifying challenges in their lives with the added burden of medical bills they cannot pay.”
“I’m here,” he added, “because that is not the America I believe in — and that”s not the America that you believe in.”
“We can’t have a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people,” Obama said.
When he mentioned Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, someone in the audience yelled out “Vote Yes!” Obama laughed and asked: “Did you hear that, Dennis?”
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He continued that the bill incorporates “the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans, even though Republicans don’t give us any credit.”
In the end, this debate is about far more than politics. It comes to down to what kind of country do we want to be.
The full transcript of Obama’s prepared remarks can be found here.
