Doctors Heal Thyselves - Obama On Health Care Costs

More at http://www.theuptake.org
Video and text from the White House
Tuesday the President hosted a meeting that marked one of the most promising signs for health reform to date, and not only because the topic was saving more than $2 trillion on health care costs. Representatives from hospitals, the insurance industry, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, labor and physicians came to the White House to discuss major steps being taken to lower health care costs across the board.

The President explained the significance of having so many diverse stakeholders at the table:
And that's what makes today's meeting so remarkable -- because it's a meeting that might not have been held just a few years ago. The groups who are here today represent different constituencies with different sets of interests. They've not always seen eye to eye with each other or with our government on what needs to be done to reform health care in this country. In fact, some of these groups were among the strongest critics of past plans for comprehensive reform.
But what's brought us all together today is a recognition that we can't continue down the same dangerous road we've been traveling for so many years; that costs are out of control; and that reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait. It's a recognition that the fictional television couple, Harry and Louise, who became the iconic faces of those who opposed health care reform in the '90s, desperately need health care reform in 2009. And so does America.

In short, the coalition has agreed to reduce the annual health care spending growth rate by 1.5 percentage points for the next 10 years, a change that could result in savings of roughly $2,500 for American families. Some of the changes the coalition is working on, explained fully in the fact sheet, include:

· Improving Care after Hospitalizations and Reduce Hospital Readmission Rates.
· Reducing Medicare Overpayments to Private Insurers through Competitive Payments.
· ...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• obama
• healthcare
• doctor
• insurance

[Oceanrust4]

Fuck obama

[psikeyhackr]

There is a really strange thing about this medical business.

In the 1980s there was a program on PBS about developing computerized medical diagnostic programs. But now we have $300 computers that are more powerful than those mainframes from the 80s. Where are those diagnostic programs to put on these great computers? When do we even hear about them now?

The medical profession has shoved them under a rug.

.

[gliman5953]

sick and tired of people in this country looking for handouts and feeling good about receiving them. for christ sake, get a job and get moving people.

how are we going to spend money to save money? I am not an accountant but that doesn't make any sense.

[Superlibertytv]

What we are going to see is less choices, less quality, less competition as government gets in the way. You will see clinics close and the age of a new USSR. I work in the computer industry and government is not involved and we see better and cheaper products and services every day... maybe there is a lesson here to learn. I goto my doctor for only $50 if I want and I don't have pre-paid insurance cause it's not needed. Plus when has anyone gone to the hospital and been turned away?

[mussietekie]

God bless Obama