The Time for Change Has Come, Obama Makes Closing Argument for HCR

As we sit at the dawn of a truly historic vote, President Obama laid out both the moral and fiscal imperatives of passing health care reform. This morning the President addressed a huge crowd at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA and tried to put this moment in the context of history:

In just a few days, a century-long struggle will culminate in an historic vote.  And when we have faced such decisions in our past, this nation has chosen time and again to extend its promise to more of its people.

When the naysayers argued that Social Security would lead to socialism, the men and women of Congress stood fast, and created a program that has lifted millions [out] of poverty.

When the cynics warned that Medicare would lead to a government takeover of our entire health care system, and it didn’t have much support in the polls, Democrats and Republicans refused to back down, and made sure that all of us could enter our golden years with some basic peace of mind.

Generations ago, those who came before made the decision that our seniors and our poor should not be forced to go without health care just because they couldn’t afford it.  Today, it falls to this generation to decide whether we will make the same promise to middle-class families, and small businesses, and young Americans like yourselves who are just starting out.

The President did a great job laying out what reform will mean to all of us. My favorite line was when he called the health care reform bill a “patient’s bill of rights on steroids.”

As the President explained, this bill will end the practice of insurers denying coverage to children with preexisting children; ban insurers from dropping your coverage, if you get sick; allow uninsured Americans with preexisting conditions to purchase health insurance for the first time; provide free preventive care to customers; eliminate restrictive lifetime or annual limits on your policies; and allow parents to cover their children until they are 26.

The President added what this reform would mean for individuals and small businesses:

…small business owners and people who are being priced out of the insurance market will have the same kind of choice of private health insurance that members of Congress give to themselves…

…small business owners and middle-class families, they’re going to be able to be part of what’s called a big pool of customers that can negotiate with the insurance companies.  And that means they can purchase more affordable coverage in a competitive marketplace. So they’re not out there on their own just shopping.  They’re part of millions of people who are shopping together.  And if you still can’t afford the insurance in this new marketplace, even though it’s going to be cheaper than what you can get on your own, then we’re going to offer you tax credits to help you afford it -– tax credits that add up to the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in American history…

…Now, the third thing that this legislation does is it brings down the cost of health care for families and businesses and the federal government. Americans who are buying comparable coverage in the individual market would end up seeing their premiums go down 14 to 20 percent.

Americans who get their insurance through the workplace, cost savings could be as much as $3,000 less per employer than if we do nothing. Now, think about that. That’s $3,000 your employer doesn’t have to pay, which means maybe she can afford to give you a raise.

Of course, all of this is going to cost some money; however, unlike the Republican-majority that passed Medicare Part D (the prescription drug benefit) and the Bush tax cuts, the President and Congress are going to pay for this and not charge it to future generations.  According to the President, they are going to do this by taking the money

that America is already spending in the health care system, but is being spent poorly, that’s going to waste and fraud and unwarranted subsidies for the insurance companies, and we’re taking that money and making sure those dollars go towards making insurance more affordable.

So we’re going to eliminate wasteful taxpayer subsidies to insurance companies.  We’re going to set a new fee on insurance companies that stand to gain millions of new customers.  So here’s the point:  This proposal is paid for.  Unlike some of these previous schemes in Washington, we’re not taking out the credit card in your name, young people, and charging it to you.  We’re making sure this thing is paid for…

Here is the President on the “fiscal conservatives” who are opposed to this bill:

So you’ve got — you’ve got a whole bunch of opponents of this bill saying, well, we can’t afford this; we’re fiscal conservatives.  These are the same guys who passed that prescription drug bill without paying for it, adding over $1 trillion to our deficit — “Oh, we can’t afford this.”  But this bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office — which is the referee, the scorekeeper for how much things cost — says we’ll save us $1 trillion.  Not only can we afford to do this, we can’t afford not to do this.

So here’s the bottom line.  That’s our proposal:  toughest insurance reforms in history, one of the biggest deficit-reduction plans in history, and the opportunity to give millions of people — some of them in your own family, some of the people who are in this auditorium today — an opportunity for the first time in a very long time to get affordable health care.  That’s it.  That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s what the Congress of the United States is about to vote on this weekend.

Here is the President’s “bottom line” on health care reform:

So here’s my bottom line.  I know this has been a difficult journey.  I know this will be a tough vote.  I know that everybody is counting votes right now in Washington.  But I also remember a quote I saw on a plaque in the White House the other day.  It’s hanging in the same room where I demanded answers from insurance executives and just received a bunch of excuses.  And it was a quote from Teddy Roosevelt, the person who first called for health care reform — that Republican — all those years ago.  And it said, “Aggressively fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords.”

Now, I don’t know how passing health care will play politically — but I know it’s right.  Teddy Roosevelt knew it was right.  Harry Truman knew that it was right.  Ted Kennedy knew it was right. And if you believe that it’s right, then you’ve got to help us finish this fight. You’ve got to stand with me just like you did three years ago and make some phone calls and knock on some doors, talk to your parents, talk to your friends.  Do not quit, do not give up, we keep on going. We are going to get this done.  We are going to make history.  We are going to fix health care in America with your help.

You can read the full transcript here.