Response on Obama's Speech

Mattie Cannon

Thompson

Obama Speech

9 September 2009

Obama’s Speech on Health Care

After listening to Obama’s speech on health care, I am thoroughly convinced that his plan will work for the better. He knows change needs to happen, and now. Reform on health care has been attempted for the past one hundred years (since Theodore Roosevelt), and it has never gotten anywhere. But, this time it’s quite different. So far, three committees have agreed on a bill and there is only one committee left that has to agree to it. This has never happened before, which is a good sign of change.

Before his speech tonight, a lot of people were uncertain on exactly what his health care plan stated. After listening to Obama speak, he gave clear cut ideas on what his plan proposes. For people with health insurance already, his plan will: make it illegal for a health care company to deny you if you had a previous illness. Many health care companies have done this to Americans and it is simply not right to do to someone. His plan will also make it illegal for the health insurance company to drop your insurance once you get sick. To prove that this has happened to people before, Obama talked of a woman who was to get a double mastectomy. Because she had forgotten to tell her health insurance company about a case of acne, they stopped covering her which delayed her recovery from cancer, and by the time she had gotten coverage back; her cancer had grown twice in size. These are the issues that should not occur in America, which is why Obama is stepping up the action on reform. Two other main points in his plan: the company cannot put a limit on how much coverage you can get. This isn’t fair at all to the person who is ill; therefore this greatly benefits the individual. The other concept is that the insurance company cannot make you pay more out of your pocket than you can actually afford. This is what makes people go into debt, and it’s a vicious circle that many people get caught in. These four points that I have taken from Obama’s speech greatly improve the lives of the people who already have health insurance.

For those who don’t have health Insurance, Obama has a plan for you. If you change to a new job or lose your job, you are still allowed to get coverage. There will be many types of health insurance plans that are affordable, but if you can’t afford these, then there is a plan run by the government. The plan run by the government isn’t something that you have to have, but it’s greatly encouraged. Another point that Obama made, was that it’s very hard for small businesses and individuals to get health insurance. To help solve this problem, he is allowing these groups to buy insurance as a collective group. All these ideas allow help to every single American, no matter where they stand financially.

Now to focus on the senior citizens, Obama has a plan for them too. He doesn’t want them left with hundreds of bills left to pay at the end of the day. Therefore, he is going to use the savings to close up the coverage gap which will help the senior citizens pay for medicine. This is a huge help for senior citizens, as they are usually not taken well care of. Sarah Palin made an accusation towards Obama that he had a death panel for senior citizens. He confronted this rumor in his speech tonight, claiming that he will not do this to senior citizens. Anyone in their right mind knows that the President of the United States wouldn’t do this to his own people.

Obama made very specific points that won me over: in Alabama, 90% of the population is controlled by one health insurance Company. This is not healthy, because this leads to lesser quality and higher prices. The company can treat their customers as badly as they want: can drop sickly ones. Which leads to another point that he made tonight: “consumers do better when there’s choice in competition.” – Obama. This is true on so many levels. The more choices a person has, the better quality coverage they will get. This doesn’t just apply to health insurance; it can be applied to almost any aspect of your daily life.

Towards the end of his speech, he began to get kind of emotional. He had passion, which shows that this is a topic that is very serious to him, and means a lot to him. He talked of Teddy Kennedy who passed away not too long ago. Teddy had believed greatly in health care and how it’s not just about the politics. It is about the “character of the country.” When Obama said this quote, something triggered inside me. It made me realize that the character of our country reflects greatly on our leaders when we need them the most, but also on the American people. We have to help others when they fall, and try to understand what others are going through. We as Americans have to work together if we want our economy to succeed and do well in the future. As Obama said, “We did not come to fear the future; we are here to shape it.”

Work Cited

Obama’s Health Care Speech, 9 September 2009.