By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — President Barack Obama blasted on Saturday special-interest groups that he said have been scaring and misleading Americans about health-care reform, adding that any overhaul will hold insurers accountable.
In his weekly address, Obama decried rumors that health-care reform would include “death panels” to decide whether older people live or die, according to the prepared remarks.
“That rumor began with the distortion of one idea in a congressional bill that would allow Medicare to cover voluntary visits with your doctor to discuss your end-of-life care – if and only if you decide to have those visits,” Obama said. “When folks with a stake in the status quo keep inventing these bogeymen in an effort to scare people, it’s disappointing, but it’s not surprising.”
The president’s Saturday remarks came during a three-state swing through the West, a trip partly designed to sell his health-care overhaul to a tough audience. Obama is looking to sell a plan that would include an option for public insurance, among other reforms. Lawmakers have also been holding town-hall meetings across the country, forums that have seen some aggressive questioning and anger from attendees.
On Saturday, Obama said the health-care system’s status quo works better for insurers than it does for consumers.
“That’s why we’re going to pass health insurance reform that finally holds the insurance companies accountable,” the president said. “But now’s the hard part … Every time we come close to passing health-insurance reform, the special interests with a stake in the status quo use their influence and political allies to scare and mislead the American people.”
He added that reform would allow patients to keep their doctors and health care plan, and enable those without insurance to afford it. Further, companies would be banned from: denying coverage based on a preexisting condition or capping coverage that patients could receive in a given year or during their lifetimes. Further, he said, insurance companies will be required to cover routine checkups and preventive care, such as mammograms and colonoscopies.
Also on Saturday, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, delivered the weekly Republican address, and said “more spending, more taxes and more government” are not the answer when it comes to health-care reform.
“After the rushed stimulus bill, Americans are rightly concerned about what is being pushed through the Democratic Congress,” Hatch said. “The rush to pass something that will affect every American life and one-sixth of our economy has raised concerns all around our nation.”
Americans who already have insurance are worried about current proposals, Hatch said.
“Republicans in Congress agree with the majority of Americans who believe that just throwing more taxpayer dollars at a problem will not deliver meaningful reform,” Hatch said. “Telling the American public that the solution for solving a $2.5 trillion health care system is to simply spend another trillion dollars in our current economy, just does not make sense.”
Hatch also criticized proposals that would increase the federal government’s control of the national health care system.
“The reform proposals being pushed by the Democrats include massive expansions of the Medicaid program and the creation of a new Washington-run plan that will drive millions of Americans from private coverage of their choice into government-run plans,” Hatch said.
Obama contended that opponents of reform are using scare tactics when it comes to cost, and that inaction could lead to average family premiums rising above $22,000 within a decade.
Ruth Mantell is a MarketWatch reporter based in Washington.
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