The skyrocketing costs of the healthcare status quo are unsustainable, President Obama asserted in his annual weekly Web address Saturday.
In addition to the $635 billion already allocated in the budget, the president announced $313 billion in savings "that will rein in unnecessary spending and increase both efficiency and the quality of care." Altogether, approximately $950 billion has been dedicated to offset the cost of reform over the next 10 years, he said.
Obama said reforming healthcare is not only a moral imperative, but a crucial step towards restoring our country’s fiscal discipline. "I know there are some who question whether we can afford to act this year, but the real question is whether we can afford not to act."
"With every passing year, healthcare costs consume a larger share of our nation’s spending, and contribute to yawning deficits that we cannot control. So let me be clear: health reform is not part of the problem when it comes to our fiscal future, it is a fundamental part of the solution," he said.
Obama is expected to deliver a speech on healthcare Monday in Chicago at the American Medical Association's annual conference.
Last Thursday, Obama held a health reform town hall meeting at Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wis., where he also discussed the cost of healthcare. Rising healthcare premiums are straining family budgets "to the breaking point" and are putting American corporations at a disadvantage in the world market. The growing cost of Medicare and Medicaid is "the biggest threat to our federal deficit," he added.
"We have the most expensive healthcare system in the world, bar none," Obama said.
"Healthcare reform is not something I just cooked up when I took office. Sometimes I hear people say, he's taking on too much, why is he -- I'm not doing this because I don't have enough to do. We need healthcare reform because it's central to our economic future. It's central to our long-term prosperity as a nation," he said.
"In past years and decades there may have been some disagreement on this point, but not anymore. Today, we've already built an unprecedented coalition of people who are ready to reform our healthcare system: physicians and health insurers; businesses and workers; Democrats and Republicans," Obama said.