President Obama Speaks at the American Medical Association’s Annual Meeting

Last week, President Obama traveled to Green Bay, WI to host a Health Care Town Hall. Today, he went to Chicago to speak to a crowd of 2,200 at the American Medical Association’s annual meeting. His message were simple: first, people who currently like their health insurance can keep it – President Obama wants to fix what’s broken with our system and build on what works; second, we must change how we practice and deliver medicine, so that more expensive care does not automatically equate with better care; and third, we must not add to the deficit while we reform our system.

During the speech, the President reiterated his belief that health care reform is a necessity, not a luxury, noting that while the United States spends more than any other nation on health care we are no healthier for it. Once again, the President made the case that reform is essential to restoring our fiscal health and putting the country back on the road to long term economic prosperity.

The President clearly made the case for a health insurance exchange, where people can compare and contrast plans and pick the one that’s right for them, and talked about his support for a public insurance option, which will give consumers more choices and increase competition to keep insurance companies honest, while lowering costs.

Here’s an excerpt from the Reuter’s article about the speech:

“Obama took his health care campaign to the annual meeting of the influential American Medical Association in Chicago, where he likened the U.S. health care system to struggling General Motors, which has filed for bankruptcy protection.

'If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM; paying more, getting less, and going broke,' he said.

"Make no mistake: the cost of our health care is a threat to our economy,' said Obama, who wants a health care reform bill on his desk by October. 'It is a ticking time bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America.'

Thus far, the President has identified $950 billion in revenue and savings to pay for health care reform, including:

– Ending overpayments to Medicare Advantage that are a windfall for insurance companies at the expense of the American people, resulting in a savings of $177 billion over the next decade.

– Changing how Medicare reimburses hospitals, by discouraging them from acting in a way that boosts profits, but drives up costs for everyone else, resulting in a saving of $25 billion over the next decade.

– Saving approximately $75 billion by getting better prices for drugs under Medicare, and another billion by rooting out waste, abuse, and fraud throughout our health care system.

We’ll post the full text of President Obama’s remarks later today.

UPDATE: Below is an excerpt of the President's remarks:.

"If we fail to act -- and you know this because you see it in your own individual practices -- if we fail to act, premiums will climb higher, benefits will erode further, the rolls of the uninsured will swell to include millions more Americans -- all of which will affect your practice. If we fail to act, one out of every five dollars we earn will be spent on health care within a decade. And in 30 years, it will be about one out of every three -- a trend that will mean lost jobs, lower take-home pay, shuttered businesses, and a lower standard of living for all Americans.

"And if we fail to act, federal spending on Medicaid and Medicare will grow over the coming decades by an amount almost equal to the amount our government currently spends on our nation's defense. It will, in fact, eventually grow larger than what our government spends on anything else today. It's a scenario that will swamp our federal and state budgets, and impose a vicious choice of either unprecedented tax hikes, or overwhelming deficits, or drastic cuts in our federal and state budgets.

So to say it as plainly as I can, health care is the single most important thing we can do for America's long-term fiscal health. That is a fact. That's a fact."

Here's the full text of the speech and key excerpts posted on the White House's blog.