President Barack Obama has continued applying pressure on both Democrats and Republicans to consider his “public option plan” which, he says will encourage competition and bring down heath-care costs for the American people.
“I am confident the plan that we put forward is the right plan for the American people…I will not tolerate us continuing to pay more for less in health care,” Obama said, following a meeting with his cabinet. “The time is right, and we are going to move aggressively to get this done.”
In his effort to win over the legislators from both sides of the aisle, the President invited Peter Orszag, his Office of Management and Budget Director, to explain and assure those skeptical of the health-care reform plan that what is being proposed is financially sound and will not be costly.
In his address to the joint session of Congress he stressed that his plan “will cost around $900 billion over 10 years, but that it will not add to the deficit, and that if the government is able to slow the growth of health-care costs by just one-tenth of one percent each year, it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term.”
Though he argued for his government-run insurance option as only a part of health reform, he also said he was receptive to hear other alternative proposals, especially those where substantial savings can be realized by the American people.
[via abcnews.go.com]
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