Now that was a speech. Called Sarah Palin a liar. Sweet music to these ears.

Just as in the 2008 campaign, people are hectoring Obama about a lack of specifics, and yet there are specifics. So let’s take note of them below:

If You Have Health Insurance,
the President’s Plan:

  • Ends discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.
  • Limits premium discrimination based on gender and age.
  • Prevents insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it most.
  • Caps out-of-pocket expenses so people don’t go broke when they get sick.
  • Eliminates extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money.
  • Protects Medicare for seniors.
  • Eliminates the “donut-hole” gap in coverage for prescription drugs.
  • If You Don’t Have Insurance,
    the President’s Plan:

    • Creates a new insurance marketplace — the Exchange — that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices.
    • Provides new tax credits to help people buy insurance.
    • Provides small businesses tax credits and affordable options for covering employees.
    • Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.
    • Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national “high risk” pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created.
    • For All Americans,
      the President’s Plan:

      • Won’t add a dime to the deficit and is paid for upfront.
      • Requires additional cuts if savings are not realized.
      • Implements a number of delivery system reforms that begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality.
      • Creates an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system.
      • Orders immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine.
      • Requires large employers to cover their employees and individuals who can afford it to buy insurance so everyone shares in the responsibility of reform.

2 Comments

  1. Michael J. West-
    September 10, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    Do you mind if I forward this to the idiot Republican aide who said today that "We still have the same questions today as we did yesterday – what the president's plan is, what it costs, how it will work"?

  2. David R. Adler-
    September 11, 2009 at 9:10 am

    This blog is public, and that breakdown is straight from the Obama website – you don't need my permission.