Every President faces defining moments. Sometimes, the issue involved has a lasting impact on millions of Americans for decades, either for better or for worse. Health care coverage is one of those defining issues today. President Obama knows this. He told us so during the campaign.
It’s time for President Obama to deliver. Time to stop listening to the chattering class in D.C. He must deliver a clear message to Congress next week. He must state clearly that he will veto a bad bill. He must lay it on the line.
In thinking about it, I had a day-dream today where Obama did just that: Get up, deliver a speech that lasts no more than 5 minutes, and tell Congress and the American people whose side he is on. I’m sure he can be more eloquent than this, but in my day-dream it went something like this:
Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, and Members of Congress:
I’ve come here tonight to address not only the men and women who serve as members of this august body, but also the American people, regarding the need for health care reform both for those who have health care coverage and for those who have none. I think many will be surprised at the brevity of this statement.
The system is broken and it needs to be fixed. It is simply intolerable that, in the greatest nation on Earth, 47 million men, women and children literally have no health care coverage at all. For those who have coverage, they are fortunate by comparison. Yet 14,000 people each day are now losing vital health care coverage in this country. The cost of premiums for many is crippling, and current projections indicate that within just over a decade, the average family will have to devote nearly one quarter of their earnings toward health coverage. More and more people are being driven into bankruptcy because of health care costs. Let me be blunt: This is simply not sustainable.
I, and all of the members of Congress, were elected to address this issue. I had hoped that all would proceed in good faith to formulate a robust health care reform proposal that addressed the core problems we face. Instead, the American people have seen the opposite happen, deluged by false statements about ‘death panels’ and the like. Instead they see watered-down, ineffective proposals that would be little more than a massive transfer of billions of dollars from hard working taxpayers to the very health insurance companies that helped create the problems we now face. Instead, we see proposals that have no prospect of controlling the spiraling costs of health care.
When it comes to taking sides, I’m going to back the American people every time over health care companies. Period. If that means I’m a one-term President, so be it.
So let me be clear. I will not sign a health care bill without a robust public option that forces private health care insurance companies to be honest and offer coverage at a fair and affordable cost. The American people deserve a meaningful choice when they seek health coverage and not to be held hostage to the virtual monopoly of the private health companies.
I will not sign a health care bill that offers no credible prospect for bringing health care costs under control. The public option is an essential requirement to attaining this goal.
I will not sign a bill that fails to mandate coverage for most if not all of the 47 million people who currently have no coverage because those who are covered all ready know that they are ultimately paying for health care costs for these uninsured people. The time for transparency has come.
I will not sign a health care bill that does little more than line the pockets of health care companies at the expense of taxpayers.
If health care reform fails, so be it. We all will have to answer to the American people. They will decide who is to blame if we fail.
The time for playing games has come to and end. This body has a job to do. Do it.
Thank you.