ADVANCE COPY: EXCERPTS OF OBAMA'S SPEECH ON HEALTHCARE: 'OUR COLLECTIVE FAILURE...'

Advance copy: Excerpts of Obama speech on healthcare


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By Raw Story

Published: September 9, 2009
Updated -3492 second ago



The following remarks from President Obama’s speech tonight on healthcare were advanced to RAW STORY.

EXCERPTS OF THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS TONIGHT:

I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell Sr. in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his son continues to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session.

Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can’t get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can’t afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover.

***

During that time, we have seen Washington at its best and its worst.

We have seen many in this chamber work tirelessly for the better part of this year to offer thoughtful ideas about how to achieve reform. Of the five committees asked to develop bills, four have completed their work, and the Senate Finance Committee announced today that it will move forward next week. That has never happened before. Our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses; hospitals, seniors’ groups and even drug companies – many of whom opposed reform in the past. And there is agreement in this chamber on about eighty percent of what needs to be done, putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been.

the rest:
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/09/advance-copy-excerpts-of-obama-speech-on-healthcare/

Its either we all HELP TOGETHER or we languish Divided into a miserable unprepared future...

i am aware that it is not hte whole thing, but there isn't even a mention of public option.

There's not gonna a be a public option and even if the so-called public option were to miraculously pass it will be so unavailable as to be meaningless.