WASHINGTON – As Congressional leaders prepare for Thursday's White House summit on healthcare reform, President Barack Obama has released his own version of a healthcare reform plan.
Obama said his plan would put American families and small business owners in control of their own healthcare and build on legislation passed by the House and Senate last year, with a focus on providing health insurance reform "that lowers costs, guarantees choices and enhances quality healthcare for all Americans."
A White House statement on Monday said, "The president has long said he is open to any good ideas for reforming our healthcare system, and he looks forward to discussing ideas for further improvements from Republicans and Democrats at an open, bipartisan meeting on Thursday."
According to the White House, the Obama proposal would make healthcare more affordable, make health insurers more accountable, expand health coverage to all Americans and make the health system sustainable, stabilizing family budgets, the Federal budget and the economy.
"It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for healthcare in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today," according to the White House. "This helps over 31 million Americans afford healthcare who do not get it today – and makes coverage more affordable for many more."
The White House said the Obama plan would also:
- set up a new competitive health insurance market, giving tens of millions of Americans the same insurance choices that members of Congress will have;
- bring greater accountability to healthcare by laying out so-called "rules of the road" to keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care;
- end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions; and
- put the budget and economy on a more stable path by reducing the deficit by $100 billion over the next 10 years – and about $1 trillion over the second decade – by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse.
The plan would also provide significant additional financing to all states for the expansion of Medicaid, eliminating any promised favoritism in bills proposed by Congress.
