SATURDAY, AUGUST 22ND, 2009 AT 12:01 AM
Weekly Address: Myths and Morality in Health Insurance Reform
Posted by Jesse Lee
"President Obama debunks the myths around health insurance reform, and discusses the public option proposal in which many of them are rooted -- but he focuses his address on the stark moral and historical turning point at which we find ourselves: "This is our chance to march forward. I cannot promise you that the reforms we seek will be perfect or make a difference overnight. But I can promise you this: if we pass health insurance reform, we will look back many years from now and say, this was the moment we summoned what's best in each of us to make life better for all of us. This was the moment we built a health care system worthy of the nation and the people we love. This was the moment we earned our place alongside the greatest generations. And that is what our generation of Americans is called to do right now."
read the transcript
The New York Times, The Caucus:
August 22, 2009, 9:11 am
Saturday Word: Myth Busters
By Janie Lorber
"President Obama seems to be starting his own version of Discovery Channel's MythBusters. For the second consecutive week Mr. Obama used his weekly address to dispel what he called the "outrageous myths" circulating about his health care proposal.
"Among the rumors he set out to quash: the idea that illegal immigrants will be covered, that abortions will be funded by taxpayer dollars, and that so-called "death panels" will be formed to decide who receives treatment.
"He also addressed the public option, the future of which has caused a bit of controversy. Liberal Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi say the House will not pass a bill without the government run health plan, while the more conservative "Group of Six"—the three Republican and three Democratic senators developing the finance committee's version of the bill—is seriously considering a system of health insurance cooperatives as an alternative.
"The public option question dominated conversation in Washington this week and Mr. Obama doesn't seem to like its pre-eminence.
""This one aspect of the health care debate shouldn't overshadow the other important steps we can and must take to reduce the increasing burdens families and businesses face," he said in the weekly address, which he recorded Friday before departing on a weeklong vacation."
Obama to health care critics: end `phony claims'
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE (AP)
WASHINGTON — "President Barack Obama is challenging critics of his push to overhaul the health care system to stop making "phony claims" about proposals now the subject of intense coast-to-coast debate.
""This is an issue of vital concern to every American, and I'm glad that so many are engaged," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday. "But it also should be an honest debate, not one dominated by willful misrepresentations and outright distortions, spread by the very folks who would benefit the most by keeping things exactly as they are."
""So today, I want to spend a few minutes debunking some of the more outrageous myths circulating on the Internet, on cable TV and repeated at some town halls across this country," the president said.
"Obama said the overhaul would not cover illegal immigrants nor use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, and he does not intend a government takeover of health care — as critics have claimed at contentious town hall-style meetings with members of Congress.
"He also took a swipe at "death panels," an idea former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin introduced on her Facebook page.
""As every credible person who has looked into it has said, there are no so-called death panels — an offensive notion to me and to the American people," Obama said. "These are phony claims meant to divide us."
"Obama angered his liberal base this past week after seeming to suggest he would be OK with a plan that didn't have a government-run health insurance option.
""This is one idea among many to provide more competition and choice, especially in the many places around the country where just one insurer thoroughly dominates the marketplace," Obama said. "Let me repeat: It would be just an option; those who prefer their private insurer would be under no obligation to shift to a public plan."
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