Obama: Cut Medicare, Medicaid for health care

[Guest guest]

Obama: Cut Medicare, Medicaid for health care

By a Werner, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jun 3, 4:35 pm ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Wednesday he wants at least $200

billion cut from Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next decade to help pay

for overhauling the nation's health care system and providing coverage to 50

million uninsured Americans.

The reductions in the programs would come on top of the $300 billion in cuts

already proposed in his budget.

In a letter to senators Wednesday, Obama also said that if Congress ends up

requiring individuals to purchase health insurance, people who can't afford it

and small businesses should be exempt. He also strongly reiterated his support

for a new public health insurance plan to compete against private insurers.

The letter to Sens. M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Max Baucus, D-Mont.,

chairmen of the two committees writing health care bills, served as a marker for

what the president wants to see in final legislation.

" The plans you are discussing embody my core belief that Americans should have

better choices for health insurance, building on the principle that if they like

the coverage they have now, they can keep it, while seeing their costs lowered

as our reforms take hold, " Obama wrote in the letter, released a day after he

met privately with members of the committees that Kennedy and Baucus lead.

Obama has asked the House and Senate each to finish legislation by early August,

so that the two can combine their bills in time for him to sign a single,

sweeping measure in October.

The president said he supports a new health insurance exchange that Congress is

crafting — a sort of marketplace that would allow Americans to shop for

different plans and compare prices. All of the plans should offer a basic

affordable package, and none should be allowed to deny coverage to people with

pre-existing conditions, Obama said.

" I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health

insurance option operating alongside private plans, " Obama wrote, weighing in

firmly on one of the most controversial issues in the debate. " This will give

them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive,

and keep insurance companies honest. "

Republicans strongly oppose a public plan, as do private insurers, who contend

it would drive them out of business.

The idea of what Obama called a " hardship waiver " for individual Americans too

poor to buy care splits the difference between where he was during the

presidential campaign and where Congress may be heading.

In the campaign, Obama did not support requiring everyone to buy insurance,

putting him at odds with then Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. Congress

is looking at doing so. The hardship waiver idea is under consideration by

Baucus' Finance Committee, while Kennedy and House Democrats are looking at

giving subsidies to the poor to help them buy coverage.

The letter doesn't address the issue of taxing health care benefits. Obama

opposed that during his campaign but Congress is now considering it as a way to

pay for extending coverage for 50 million uninsured Americans, something that

could cost $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

http://news./s/ap/20090603/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul_27