Obama's vision for Health Care in America.

[Clarkie1]

"In the 2008 campaign, affordable, universal health care for every single American must not be a question of whether, it must be a question of how. We have the ideas, we have the resources, and we will have universal health care in this country by the end of the next president's first term."
-Barack Obama, Speech in Washington, DC 1/25/07

The United States spends twice as much per person on health care as every other developed country in the world, but 45 million Americans don't have health coverage. Health care premium costs are growing five times faster than wages, and half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. More and more businesses are struggling with health costs, or dropping coverage altogether.

In his book, The Audacity of Hope, and in a series of speeches and public events Barack Obama has outlined specific principles for providing affordable and comprehensive coverage and for improving quality of care and reducing of costs for everyone. These include tackling medical inflation and spiraling health care costs, developing new mechanisms to extend portable, affordable coverage, and reforming health care delivery so that it emphasizes prevention and efficiency.

However, every election year, people offer comprehensive health care plans, and they never go anywhere. They die in Washington. So one of the things Barack Obama wants to do in this campaign is not only roll out policy plans, but also build a real movement for change.

As a first step, Barack Obama wants to hear from you. He is hosting a series of community discussions around the country to hear not only from policy experts, but also from real Americans who are struggling with the health care system, doctors and nurses, people with insurance and without it. Those who are struggling to pay their bills, or forgoing care because of high costs.

Obama expects his presidency to be judged on whether he provides high-quality affordable health care coverage for all by the end of his first term. We are not short on ideas to address the problem, but what we have lacked is consensus and political will. With the help of your insight, Barack will develop a health care plan that builds on our common experiences and builds the political momentum to enact real reform.

Throughout his career in Washington and in the state Senate, Obama has been dedicated to health care reform. Learn more about Barack's record on health care and share your voice on these issues.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

[Phredicles]

1. Single-payer, Mr. Obama; single payer!

If he can just make that commitment it'll almost make up for if Al Gore really is sitting this one out as far as I'm concerned.