COVID-19 & Healthcare

The plans you are discussing embody my core belief that Americans should
have better choices for health insurance, building on the principle that if
they like the coverage they have now, they can keep it, while seeing their
costs lowered as our reforms take hold. But for those who don't have such
options, I agree that we should create a health insurance exchange — a
market where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare
benefits and prices, and choose the plan that's best for them, in the same
way that Members of Congress and their families can. None of these plans
should deny coverage on the basis of a preexisting condition, and all of
these plans should include an affordable basic benefit package that includes
prevention, and protection against catastrophic costs. I strongly believe
that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option
operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of
choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance
companies honest.

June 2, 2009

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy

The Honorable Max Baucus

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Kennedy and Senator Baucus:

The meeting that we held today was very productive and I want to commend you
for your leadership — and the hard work your Committees are doing on health
care reform, one of the most urgent and important challenges confronting us
as a Nation.

In 2009, health care reform is not a luxury. It's a necessity we cannot
defer. Soaring health care costs make our current course unsustainable. It
is unsustainable for our families, whose spiraling premiums and
out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy and forcing them to
go without the checkups and prescriptions they need. It is unsustainable for
businesses, forcing more and more of them to choose between keeping their
doors open or covering their workers. And the ever-increasing cost of
Medicare and Medicaid are among the main drivers of enormous budget deficits
that are threatening our economic future.

In short, the status quo is broken, and pouring money into a broken system
only perpetuates its inefficiencies. Doing nothing would only put our entire
health care system at risk. Without meaningful reform, one fifth of our
economy is projected to be tied up in our health care system in 10 years;
millions more Americans are expected to go without insurance; and outside of
what they are receiving for health care, workers are projected to see their
take-home pay actually fall over time.

We simply cannot afford to postpone health care reform any longer. This
recognition has led an unprecedented coalition to emerge on behalf of reform
— hospitals, physicians, and health insurers, labor and business, Democrats
and Republicans. These groups, adversaries in past efforts, are now standing
as partners on the same side of this debate.

At this historic juncture, we share the goal of quality, affordable health
care for all Americans. But I want to stress that reform cannot mean
focusing on expanded coverage alone. Indeed, without a serious, sustained
effort to reduce the growth rate of health care costs, affordable health
care coverage will remain out of reach. So we must attack the root causes of
the inflation in health care. That means promoting the best practices, not
simply the most expensive. We should ask why places like the Mayo Clinic in
Minnesota, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and other institutions can offer
the highest quality care at costs well below the national norm. We need to
learn from their successes and replicate those best practices across our
country. That's how we can achieve reform that preserves and strengthens
what's best about our health care system, while fixing what is broken.