Fighting Media Myths - President Obama Defends Public Option In An Interview on 8/20

[TomCADem]

This just fights the media myth that President Obama is not out there actively advocating in support of a public option.


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THE PRESIDENT: Michael, it's great to be on the show again. Every time we've been on it's been a great time. So I appreciate the opportunity.

MR. SMERCONISH: Folks are stacked up, as you might imagine. They're anxious to pose some questions about health care to the President of the United States. More than 5,000 e-mail suggestions have flowed through my Web site in just the last 24 hours alone.

If it's all right, I'll start by posing a couple of questions and some of the things that I continue to hear from folks, and we'll welcome phone callers, as well.

Allow me, sir, to begin with this. Did Secretary Sebelius misspeak last weekend? You know, a great deal has been made as to what she said pertaining to the so-called public option.

THE PRESIDENT: She really didn't misspeak. The surprising thing is she'd been saying this all along. She said the same thing a month ago. And let me just describe what the issue is here. We have consistently talked about the need for health care reform because family premiums are going up three times faster than inflation and wages. The costs of Medicare and Medicaid will bankrupt this country if we don't reduce the cost inflation of health care. You've got families who can't get health care because of preexisting conditions or they bump up against some lifetime cap if a family member gets really ill.

So what we've said is there are a number of components of health care. One is that for people who already have health insurance, they can keep their health insurance, but we're going to have some consumer protections to regulate how insurers operate. For example, they can't prohibit people from getting it, health insurance, because of a preexisting condition. They can't have lifetime caps or yearly caps that prevent people from getting the care that they need.

We're also going -- for people who don't have health insurance -- to set up a system similar to what Congress has, where you can buy into a bigger pool, get better rates, have better protections around you. You would be buying that insurance from private insurers.

But one of the options we talked about was a public option where there wouldn't be a profit motive involved. It would be non-for-profit, and that public option would give you affordable health insurance.

Now, what we've said is we think that's a good idea. But we haven't said that that's the only aspect of health insurance. And what she essentially said was, is that all these other insurance reforms are just as important as the public option. The press got a little excited and some folks on the left got a little excited about this. Our position hasn't changed. We think that the key is cost control, competition, making sure that people have good, quality options. If we're able to achieve that, that's the end that we're seeking. And the means -- you know, we can have some good arguments about what the best way to achieve it is, but we've got to change because the status quo is unsustainable.

MR. SMERCONISH: Mr. President, there's a mindset among many folks in many audience who say that the endgame, it's all about single-payer; that it's a public option or it's a co-operative. And sir, you know that there's a perception out there that you want it all -- you know, you want to be in the banks, you want to be in the automotive industry, and now you want to be in health care. Can you address that mindset?

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