President Obama said compromise is necessary on every piece of legislation, and outlined bits of the new Senate health care deal he said makes it much stronger.
In a brief statement to reporters a few hours as Senate Republicans forced the reading of the 383-page amendment containing the final deal, Obama said the nation stands “on the cusp” of big change.
“There’s still much work left to be done with not a lot of time left to do it,” Obama said, adding: “Today is a major step forward for the American people.”
The president detailed changes to the Senate legislation that he said “made this landmark bill even stronger.”
Among them:
Imposing penalties for insurance companies that “arbitrarily jack up prices for consumers.”
Prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to children immediately.
“Protect patient’s choice of doctor.”
“No longer will insruance companies be able to drop your coverage if you become sick,” Obama said.
He also lauded the deficit reduction projected in the latest CBO score as the largest reduction in any legislation in history, with $132 billion projected to be saved in the first decade and $1 trillion in the next.
Here are his full remarks.
