For businesses large and small, for lower- and middle-income families, and for state and local governments across the country, the rising costs of health care and insurance coverage have been an economic threat for years.
Health care costs have driven individuals and families to bankruptcy, forced businesses to reduce or drop insurance coverage for employees, and hamstrung the budgets of public bodies. It has played a significant role in the economic recession we now face.
So those who say President Obama shouldn't be addressing health care reform now because it is unrelated to solving the economic crisis are not being intellectually honest. Neither are those who say the president should be focusing on nothing more than creating jobs for the economy. These hard times require a president who is able to work on a number of initiative at the same time - especially when they have a direct effect on the economy, as health care does.
Obama last week began a push to guarantee access to health care coverage for all Americans and to reduce the costs that have helped cripple the economy. He has vowed to have health care reform accomplished during his first year in office, a promise he made during his successful presidential campaign.
Last Thursday, Obama had a group of doctors, patients, business owners and insurers participated in a White House forum on health care. Some of the folks at the White House event were among those responsible for killing the Clinton administration's health care overhaul attempt. The president has begun the process correctly, trying to involve in the process people with sometimes competing interests and viewpoints on how health care should be reformed.
Health care costs must be reduced to patients, and access to affordable health insurance needs to be improved - particularly in these difficult economic times for individuals and businesses. It's imperative for the president, Congress, patients, doctors, businesses, local governments and insurers to come up with a plan - relatively quickly - that eases the financial burdens on all.
Health care costs have driven individuals and families to bankruptcy, forced businesses to reduce or drop insurance coverage for employees, and hamstrung the budgets of public bodies. It has played a significant role in the economic recession we now face.
So those who say President Obama shouldn't be addressing health care reform now because it is unrelated to solving the economic crisis are not being intellectually honest. Neither are those who say the president should be focusing on nothing more than creating jobs for the economy. These hard times require a president who is able to work on a number of initiative at the same time - especially when they have a direct effect on the economy, as health care does.
Obama last week began a push to guarantee access to health care coverage for all Americans and to reduce the costs that have helped cripple the economy. He has vowed to have health care reform accomplished during his first year in office, a promise he made during his successful presidential campaign.
Last Thursday, Obama had a group of doctors, patients, business owners and insurers participated in a White House forum on health care. Some of the folks at the White House event were among those responsible for killing the Clinton administration's health care overhaul attempt. The president has begun the process correctly, trying to involve in the process people with sometimes competing interests and viewpoints on how health care should be reformed.
Health care costs must be reduced to patients, and access to affordable health insurance needs to be improved - particularly in these difficult economic times for individuals and businesses. It's imperative for the president, Congress, patients, doctors, businesses, local governments and insurers to come up with a plan - relatively quickly - that eases the financial burdens on all.
