PresBO in NC live thread: Medicare costs going up more slowly than inflation and private med costs.

[Captain Hilts]

[Captain Hilts]

1. Some state Medicare programs 30% lower than market...

[Captain Hilts]

2. Doctors on salaries so incentives are different.

[Captain Hilts]

3. You can lower cost and increase quality at the same time. Need to change how we reimburse...

we're not going to reimburse you for the # of tests you do, but instead for the quality of the outcome.

We just reimburse hospitals no matter how many times you get readmitted.

What if car repair was like that? Taking your car in and paying twice for something that should have been fixed?

[Captain Hilts]

4. Question: Medicare re-admittance. 'BAM: that's one of the changes we want to make.

that's what we're proposing.

People will try to scare you....I've got seniors in the audience saying "I hear you're going to take my Medicare away. I don't want a government program, but don't touch my Medicare!" GOOD POINT

[Captain Hilts]

5. 'BAM: here's an important point...you hear it will cost a trillion dollars...

first of all, that's a lot less than we spent on Iraq, BUT, it's still a lot of money.

Two thirds of the cost to cover everybody in the US could actually be paid for by money that's already in the healthcare system.

177 billion dollars is spent over ten years on subsidies on insurance companies using something called "medicare advantage."

We've already identified billions that are already paid for...you wouldn't know that from the news.

That's what we're talking about.

Small biz, if you're already paying for health insurance...you'd get a tax credit to reduce your costs directly. 95% of small businesses would benefit if they're already providing health ins. for their employees. They pay a higher price because they're a smaller pool. They're 20 people. Through a healthcare exchange you can be part of a bigger pool that can leverage lower prices.

[Captain Hilts]

6. I ran for prez because I, too, was skeptical of washington. We need a man to aska question...

[Captain Hilts]

7. QUESTION: a primary care physician who is also in state senate...if patient can't afford meds...

they can't get treatment. What do we do about the high cost of prescription drugs in America.

We pay 77% more for prescription drugs in America than any other country. If you talk to the pharm...industry they say we develop the drugs. That's only 25%, the rest has to do with marketing. The Phram industry can get away with it.

When the prescription drug bill was passed they PROHIBITED Medicare from negoitate for lower prices. In this reform process we are going to turn that around. to the Pharm industry's credit, they've already put 80bn dollars in discounts on the table to close the 'doughnut hole'. That would cut the cost of the doughnut hole in half.

[Captain Hilts]

8. Drugs: Move to generics. They want to keep their patents for 12 years. We want to lower that to 7

[Captain Hilts]

9. QUESTION: I'm preparing to teach math, I volunteered in your campaign...I think most

want healthcare reform but they are afraid of change.

What is the cost impact?

'BAM: if you already have health ins. then I can't guarantee that immediately you're premiums will be cut in half, but I will guarantee that your costs will be lower if we do not have reform.

If you have health ins. you won't be bared for a pre-existing. You won't lose if you lose your job.

You will have more security than you have now.

[Captain Hilts]

10. "You will have more SECURITY than you will have now. It will be easier for small biz owners to

provide insurance for your employees.

[Captain Hilts]

11. "If you are self-employed, you will be able to buy insurance."

[Captain Hilts]

12. We're still going to need to pay for that 1/3 that isn't covered. Folks who earn more than $300K a

year will have to make up the difference.

We're not going to have middle class folks bear that burden.

If you do have health ins. you will have more security. If you don't have health ins. you will be able to get it.

[Captain Hilts]

13. QUESTION: The opposition claims they don't have time to read the 1000 page plan...

what difference does a couple of months make that we allow them to read it.

'BAM: the politics of healthcare reform...first of all. This bill, will not be signed - we won't even vote on it until late Sept. or early Oct - that means any one of these senators, if they want to take this bill home over the August recess, they will have time to read it if they want to.

Second, we've been debating this for 40 years now. Some sincerely want to get it right. We don't want to just do it quickly, we want to do it right. There are some that know the longer we take, the more likely they can kill the bill.

Here's my promise, and by the way, I've been keeping my promises since I got in office, I will not sign a healthcare bill that is not deficit neutral, that is not paid for or that does not have what we need to stop healthcare inflation. We won't sign a bill that isn't right for the Am. People. I'm 'for' the public option, so I just want everybody to know, Congress will have time to read and debate the bill. They'll have all of August to review...

In Sept. I will be available to answer any questions they might have. They can come over to the White House. We're not trying to hide the ball here. The Am. people can't wait any longer. They want action this year. I want action this year.

Thank you NC, and God Bless you.

[4lbs]

23. The plan is only 1000 pages because of the formatting.

It's formatted double-spaced, 12-point font, single-sided, with 1.5 inch margins.

That's a lot of empty white space.

If it was formatted like a typical novel, it would be 350 double-sided pages.

You can read that in a few days.

[IndependentDem]

14. your good!

thanks for the play by play.

[Captain Hilts]

19. I used to do live time transcripts of focus groups when I was in polling...

Sorry I missed the beginning...

[Parker CA]

15. He has changed his rhetoric a bit. He said he'll veto a bill if it isn't deficit neutral,

if it isn't paid for, and if it isn't 'right for the American people.' He did say he was for the public option, but unlike many previous appearances, he did not include that in his list of reasons why he'd veto a bill. Maybe I'm parsing too much, but that's what stood out to me. I was encouraged by hearing him say in other events, 'I will veto any bill that doesn't include a public option.' I didn't hear that today.

I'm keeping fingers crossed that he'll still veto any bill without a public option.

[Autumn]

16. Thank you Obama,

and God bless you. :kick:

[Captain Hilts]

21. He did a good job. nt

[Autumn]

22. Better than good.

I think he hit some balls out of the park on this one.

[dionysus]

17. thanks for the run down

[City Lights]

18. Thanks for the play-by-play.

:hi: It's most appreciated. :thumbsup:

[Captain Hilts]

20. Sorry I missed the beginning...

I used to do live time transcripts of focus groups when I was in polling.