very crucial and important! Those people who are not quite old enough for Medicare, but retire currently cannot get insurance until they are old enough for Medicare…Healthcare Reform will expand to reach them over time.
Q: Where are these lies coming from?
A: (Laughter) Well,…we know. Just flip channels and stop here and there and you will see who is starting these lies, but the best strategy against these lies is to keep pushing the truth. For example:
1) There are no plans on revoking provisions in order to pay for abortions!;
2) There are no provisions for illegal aliens (immigrants) to be covered under Healthcare Reform still;
3) Healthcare Reform will not force everybody into the public option;
There is no government interference on private relationships between doctors and patients.
In a very, very frustrated tone, President Obama discussed in detail the so-called, “Death Panel” as follows:
This is a piece of legislation started by the Republicans and is practiced in some industries, too. What it is is that people who volunteer to do so, can be counseled about hospice, living will, terminal illness, etc. This was supported by the Republicans and it is called the death panel and cruelly and falsely scares grandma! It is being spread irresponsibly by the media, too. It is not true! When I responded to the media that we are not going to be “pulling the plug” on senior citizens, they did NOT report that truth, but instead moved on to the next story. That was unfair and that is why I need YOU to fight back with truth!
The reality is that there are just people who do not want to see Healthcare Reform happen and there are ideologists who just don’t want government involved in anything because they just believe the government should stay out without seeing and understanding the benefit of being on our side.
Q: (North Carolina) You’ve been outrageously good about trying to get this passed! Do we have any Republican support?
A: We don’t know. We know there are 3 Republicans drafting a version, but they are being strongly influenced not to negotiate. Either can be included, but I have no control over their strategy. The American people are telling me to get it done and I am going to do it one way or the other.
Q: (rural Virginia) The people here say it will come down to money. Who will pay for it?
A: How are we going to pay for it generally? Well, let me first put it into perspective. All you hear is the “trillion-dollar plan.” In perspective, that is over ten years with each year costing 1 billion dollars.
In perspective, we are spending 9 billion dollars each MONTH in Iraq and Pakistan. We could have funded healthcare instead.
Two-thirds (2/3) of the cost will be paid with money already incoming from taxpayers, but it is currently being wasted. The way we reimburse hospitals, but offer no incentives to fix the pateint’s health problem is wasteful as well. For example, if a patient goes to the hospital for a problem, he will be seen two or three times for the same problem and we pay the exact same cost without ever seeing the problem fixed.
On the other hand, in comparison, if your car breaks down and you take it to the shop to get fixed and then they give it back to you. If you take your car back the following week because of the same problem, you expect and receive a discount. That does not happen in our healthcare system today.
Also, one-third (1/3) is prevention and wellness. For example, we’ll have itemized deductions go to the same services across the board. Both the House and the Senate have more ideas, but I am committed that it will not be funded on the backs of the middle class taxpayers!
Finally, employers cannot “dump” employees due to a “fire-wall” provision in Healthcare Reform so there will be no need to worry that your employer will force you into a public option. However, small business owners and employees of small businesses will be able to participate in the public option Exchange because they otherwise have no insurance. Small businesses do not currently get a good deal the way, for example, Xerox does because it has hundreds of thousands of employees.
Q: (Maryland) If public option is the solution, why not push it harder?
A: Public option is very important and I firmly support it! However, again, it is just one component of a broader plan. We are saying to health insurers that you cannot continue excluding people due to pre-existing conditions or put caps on their health coverage. The competitive benchmark in which to operate is like a suspender and pants relationships. What I mean is that the belt or suspenders would be the Healthcare Reform holding up the pants.
Private insurance companies cover 80 percent of Americans and they get scared that they will be forced into a public option and this is what the health industry is counting on, but this is false as I already said nobody will be forced to participate in the public option. It is strictly for the uninsured and those who volunteer to join.
Q: (Maryland) How do we encourage physical fitness such as in our children and schools as part of Healthcare Reform?
A: We must each our children about the importance of good health. We must teach them about good nutrition and exercise. Michelle and I always talk about when we were children and our parents would say, “Here is your breakfast now go.” Then you would go outside and play until the next time it was time to go in the house. You played all day and that is exercise. I know many recreation centers and a lot of little leagues don’t exist anymore and some playgrounds, but this is what the difference is between how we were raised as children and the lack of physical exercise our children get today.
Another issue is school lunches, too. Today, children get pizza and French fries and those foods are cheaper and we know the kids want them. However, if we could create a distribution process somehow for local farmers to bring their fresh fruits and vegetable products to the schools, kids would get more nutritional choices at school. We have to change the attitude of our children about exercise and nutritional food choices. Michelle and I are even looking into a farmer’s market at the White House some kind of way.
Q: (Maryland) Young adults are tring to figure this Healthcare Reform thing out. How does Healthcare Reform account for young adults?
A: It will extend coverage to kids up to age 26. That way, they can stay on their family plan because we know when they get their first job after college, they are trying to eat and opt to not have insurance. This means for any catastrophic health issues, they arrive at the emergency room without insurance or do not have wellness healthcare.
The Exchange pool will offer a very, very affordable healthcare plan for young adults. They will have to purchase some type of health insurance plan and it will be a minimum cost. It will be mandatory much the same way car liability insurance is mandatory. This provides them with catastrophic health coverage as well as prevention and wellness care.
In any case, if any family would be catastrophically financially burdened and could not afford healthcare, they would be exempt from participating.
I have to leave now, but I want to finish by stating that you did not put me in DC for good poll rating and I did not come for that. We can do better. We came for CHANGE!
Washington, DC is a tough “partisan” town with people of strong ideology that this will never happen. These are the stories getting printed by reporters and they will keep writing about that partisan ideology. We are NOT giving up!
Thank you.
This Teleconference with President Obama was sponsored by Obama For America. To leave your comment or ask questions, please visit
www.barackobama.com or call 1-(866) 495-2004.
Levine-Oliver Publisher is a proud supporter of Healthcare Reform.
Join Healthcare For America Now at
www.healthcareforamericanow.org Contact your Congressperson at
www.house.gov or
www.senate.gov Visit National Alliance on Mental Illness at
www.namimetropolitanbaltimore.org Thank you for learning truth!
Posted By: agnes levine
Thursday, August 20th 2009 at 10:46PM
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