President Obama in Green Bay

"We have finally decided to fix what is broken about health care in America", by A. David Dahmer

"If the country puts off health care reform, it's never going to happen," President Obama told a packed Green Bay Southwest High School gymnasium crowd June 11 as he laid out his case on the necessity of revamping the broken United States health care system at a town hall forum.
"We have the most expensive health care system in the world. We spend almost 50 percent more per person on health care than the next most-costly nation," Obama said. "But here's the thing, Green Bay: we're not any healthier for it. We don't necessarily have better outcomes. Even within our own country, a lot of the places where we spend less on health care actually have higher quality than places where we spend more."
The president praised Green Bay area health care providers for delivering high quality care at a much lower cost than other parts of the country.
"Right here in Green Bay, you get more quality out of fewer health care dollars than many other communities across the country," Obama said. "And yet, across the country, spending on health care goes up and up and up — day after day, year after year."
Laura Klitzka introduced the president during his appearance in the gymnasium at Southwest. Klitzka, a mother of two who is battling breast cancer, said her family has thousands of dollars in unpaid medical bills. She said worrying about the family's finances while battling breast cancer has been "devastating."
"Laura's story is incredibly moving. Sadly, it is not unique," Obama said. "Every day in this country, more and more Americans are forced to worry not simply about getting well, but whether they can afford to get well. Millions more wonder if they can afford the routine care necessary to stay well. Even for those who have health insurance, rising premiums are straining their budgets to the breaking point — premiums that have doubled over the last nine years, and have grown at a rate three times faster than wages. Desperately needed procedures and treatments are put off because the price is too high. And all it takes is a single illness to wipe out a lifetime of savings."
This recent visit to Green Bay was designed for Obama to build support for a health care overhaul that has eluded Democrats for decades, as well to inject a personal angle into a debate that affects some 50 million Americans without insurance.
"We must also provide Americans who can't afford health insurance with more affordable options," Obama said. "This is both a moral imperative and an economic imperative, because we know that when someone without health insurance is forced to get treatment at the ER, all of us end up paying for it."
Obama acknowledged that there are millions of Americans who are content with their health care coverage, who like their plan, and who value their relationship with their doctor. "And no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise," Obama said. "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan."
Obama said that doing nothing will cost us far more in the coming years.
"Our deficits will be higher," he said. "Our premiums will go up. Our wages will be lower, our jobs will be fewer, and our businesses will suffer."
While he says he is not interested in a system of nationalized health care, he does believe a single-payer system has some appeal, like Medicare, where the government reimburses doctors or hospitals for services they provide to seniors. Obama said that he doesn't know anybody in Washington who is proposing a nationalized health care system like that in Great Britain.
Obama was greeted by several hundred protestors who felt his plan for health care reform was akin to socialism. 
"So when you hear people talking about [socialized medicine], understand, I don't know anybody in Washington that's proposing that, certainly not me," Obama said."I do not want the government to run things. I've got enough to do. I've got North Korea and Iran. I've got Afghanistan and Iraq."
Obama said that his view is that reform should be guided by a simple principle —  we fix what's broken and build on what works.
"After decades of inaction, we have finally decided to fix what is broken about health care in America," President Obama said. "We have decided that it's time to give every American quality health care at an affordable cost. We have decided that if we invest in reforms that will bring down costs now, we will eventually see our deficits come down in the long-run. And we have decided to change the system so that our doctors and health care providers are free to do what they trained and studied and worked so hard to do: make people well again."