From his televised statement on health care reform in the Rose Garden just now:

This is a problem we can no longer wait to fix. Deferring reform is nothing more than defending the status quo—and those who would oppose our efforts should take a hard look at just what it is they’re defending. Over the last decade, health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages. Deductibles and out-of-pocket costs are skyrocketing. And every single day we wait to act, thousands of Americans lose their insurance, some turning to nurses in the emergency room as their only recourse.

So make no mistake: The status quo on health care is not an option for the United States of America. It is threatening the financial stability of our families, our businesses, and government itself. It is unsustainable.

Full statement here.

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

13 replies on “Obama, Wading In”

  2. but i’ll have to wait in line! i’ll get fined or jailed if i don’t pay a premium! it’s socialism! they’re going to tax my income! the system in france is bankrupt!

  3. He needs to get into the financing and come out and teach us Americans what the deal needs to be. Higher taxes. The blue dogs who disagree have to see him leading the voters to make them agree. Generic calls for reform just don’t seem to be working. In all this verbiage there isn’t a hard enough message…by using a weird public option instead of single payer, he can’t really explain how we’re going to see the savings, and the GOP plans also say they cover everyone. It’s all a muddle still.

    Bit o’ class warfare, wot?

  4. His rhetorical flourishes really leave me cold these days, I must confess. A lotta talk, not much action. Economy, health care, DADT, blahblahblah keep talking.

    I feel like a woman spurned.

  5. Thank God that President Obama is making it possible for the job-creating small businesses of America to compete worldwide.

    Seriously, now they will have a level playing field with the larger and more inefficient large and medium sized business, since they can just opt for the public plans and provide decent health care for their employees.

  7. It’s probably wise to stick to generalities and necessary conditions for a plan. There is so much negotiation going on at so many levels for legislation this big. If Obama were to chime in on behalf of any given solution it could really stall or even scuttle the bill. Better to work behind the scenes and give congress wiggle room.

  9. I thank the congressional health care committee who put the bill together.

    I will reserve my thank you to the President if and when he ever signs the fucker into law.

  10. how come no one is talking about a real healthcare system… single payer. increasing the amount of shitty insurance available isn’t healthcare.

  13. Every day I wake up thanking God for putting more CEOs and CFOs between me and my doctor.

    Really.

    That’s why I love how Big Pharma and Big Insurance want to look out for me.

    Yumm. I love these tasty meds they gave me for only $200 a month.

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