Center Supports President Obama's Health Care Plan

The Center supports President Obama's Health Care Plan primarily because it eliminates the exclusion of coverage for people with preexisting conditions by insurance companies. It also provides an avenue for insurance coverage to tens of millions of people who are currently not covered. And we support the president's plan because it reforms an out of control health care system in terms of cost.

Excerpts from the President's statement:

FULL STATEMENT

Essentially, my proposal would change three things about the current health care system.

First, it would end the worst practices of insurance companies. No longer would they be able to deny your coverage because of a preexisting condition. No longer would they be able to drop your coverage because you got sick. No longer would they be able to force you to pay unlimited amounts of money out of your own pocket. No longer would they be able to arbitrarily and massively raise premiums like Anthem Blue Cross recently tried to do in California -- up to 39 percent increases in one year in the individual market. Those practices would end.

Second, my proposal would give uninsured individuals and small business owners the same kind of choice of private health insurance that members of Congress get for themselves -- because if it’s good enough for members of Congress, it’s good enough for the people who pay their salaries.

Finally, my proposal would bring down the cost of health care for millions -- families, businesses, and the federal government. We have now incorporated most of the serious ideas from across the political spectrum about how to contain the rising cost of health care --- ideas that go after the waste and abuse in our system, especially in programs like Medicare. But we do this while protecting Medicare benefits, and extending the financial stability of the program by nearly a decade.