Obama and Edward Kennedy stroll in the White House corridors
March 6th, 2009
US can’t afford to wait on healthcare: Obama
Saying Americans cannot afford to put off an overhaul of healthcare, President Barack Obama vowed yesterday to break the political stalemate that has blocked past efforts and pass a comprehensive plan this year.Mr Obama formally launched a drive for healthcare reform at a White House forum, telling about 120 experts the costly and inefficient system was dragging down the ailing US economy.
“Health care reform is no longer just a moral imperative, it is a fiscal imperative,” Mr Obama said. “If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy, then we must address the crushing cost of healthcare this year, in this administration.”
Mr Obama said he understood scepticism about the initiative given the failure of President Bill Clinton’s plan in the 1990s, which died amid heavy opposition from insurance and drug companies.
“I know people are afraid we’ll draw the same old lines in the sand and give in to the same entrenched interests and arrive back at the same stalemate that we’ve been stuck in for decades,” he said.
“This time is different. This time, the call for reform is coming from the bottom up, from all across the spectrum – from doctors, nurses and patients; unions and businesses; hospitals, health care providers and community groups,” he said.
Mr Obama’s drive for a healthcare overhaul, a core promise of his Democratic candidacy, is another big-ticket item on a jammed White House agenda that includes programmes to ease the economic crisis, rescue the financial system and cure an ailing housing market.
But Mr Obama said the US economic crisis made the healthcare task even more critical, and he reiterated his goal to pass a comprehensive healthcare measure by the end of the year.
US healthcare costs have grown to $2.5 trillion annually and the ranks of the uninsured have swollen to 46 million people.
The country consistently ranks lower than other rich countries in preventing and treating many diseases such as diabetes.
Political momentum for an overhaul has grown in recent years. Mr Obama and his Republican rival in the presidential election, Senator John McCain, both proposed extensive changes in the healthcare system during the campaign. (Reuters)
source.standard.ke.