President Obama's Health Care Proposal

This morning, President Obama released a carefully crafted health care proposal that bridged the gap between the versions passed by the U.S. Senate and House. You can read that plan here. Understanding that we have come too far to start over, the President is pointing to his proposal as a starting point for the televised health care summit on Thursday.

The proposal would offer bigger subsidies to help working Americans purchase health coverage, and give billions in tax credits so small businesses could offer insurance to their employees. President Obama's plan would offer additional federal dollars to states for Medicaid expansion and ensure that all states are treated equally. It would stop deplorable insurance industry practices like denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition, and would give the federal government authority to stop egregious premium increases. Particularly during a recession, Americans understand the importance of this government oversight. Despite making massive profits, health insurance companies are enacting outrageous premium increases. Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pressured a California health insurance company to delay a 39 percent premium increase it planned to implement on some of its customers.

President Obama has demonstrated his commitment to American families. His plan will help close the gap that has left millions of Americans uninsured and underinsured. It will also stabilize our economy by reducing the federal deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years.