Obama On Why We Need Health Care Reform Now

I think he makes a pretty good case here, and it's the first time I've heard him directly address the reasonable objections that have been made in a concise, straightforward manner. He should say this more often.

from his townhall meeting in Green Bay on Thursday:

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: So I just want to repeat, the single biggest problem we have, in terms of the debt and the deficit, is health care. It's Medicare and Medicaid.

(APPLAUSE)

That -- that is -- when you hear all these projections about all these trillions of dollars and red ink going out as far as the eye can see, almost all of that is because of the increase in Medicare and Medicaid costs that are going up much, much faster than inflation.

It's undoubtedly true that this economic crisis has hurt our budget situation. Because, again, a lot less money is coming in from corporate taxes, sales taxes, et cetera. So that reduces the amount of money coming in at the same time as we're having to put a lot more money out for food stamps and for unemployment insurance and all kinds of other help that people need when they get thrown out of their jobs, subsidizing COBRA so they can keep their health care.

That's contributed to some of it. Some of it is that I have proposed some investments in education and in energy and in health information technologies.

But there was just an article in the New York Times yesterday that showed that all that stuff -- everything that I've proposed, my stimulus package, what we've done in terms of bailing out the financial system, all that stuff -- that accounts for maybe 7 percent, 8 percent of what you've seen in terms of increased debt and deficit.

The real problem is Medicaid and Medicare. That's the nightmare scenario. If we can bend the curve, the cost curve down, so that health care inflation is no more than ordinary inflation; it's matching up with the amount of increases that you're seeing on your paychecks in your wages and your incomes, then we're going to be OK. And if we don't get a handle on it, we're not going to be OK.

It doesn't matter, you know, that we eliminate earmarks or do all that other stuff. That won't make any difference. We'll still be consumed by huge debt for the next generation.

That's why it's so important. That's why we're going to get it done. That's why I need your help, Green Bay.