U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday commenced his one-day health care reform summit that he hosted in the White House. In brief opening remarks to around 120 people representing everyone from doctors and patients to health insurers and lawmakers, Obama worked to rally his vision to create more affordable healthcare in the midst of a widespread economic crisis. His summit comes days after Obama nominated Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary for Health and Human Services. “There are those who say we should defer health care reform once again—that at a time of economic crisis, we simply cannot afford to fix our health care system as well. Well, let's be clear: the same soaring costs that are straining our families' budgets are sinking our businesses and eating up our government's budget too,” Obama said. He stressed the need for such an inclusive health care system in order to stem the rising number of Americans who cannot afford health care, saying that the number has already reached 46 million. Obama said that in the last eight years, health care premiums have grown four times faster than wages, and the cost of health care now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds, and could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes by the end of the year. That is why, Obama argued, it is imperative to expand health care coverage to all Americans—a task he said he will accomplish by the end of 2009. Making good on a long-held campaign promise, Obama has already provided coverage for eleven million children from working families, and for seven million Americans who have lost their jobs. The administration has also invested in preventive care, electronic medical records, and launched a new effort to find a cure for cancer. Stressing the need for such a reform, Obama said the current health care system is one of the greatest threats facing the United States today. “The greatest threat to America's fiscal health is not Social Security…and it is not the investments we've made to rescue our economy; it is the skyrocketing cost of health care. That is why we cannot delay this discussion any longer…Because health care reform is no longer just a moral imperative, it is a fiscal imperative.” The summit was a culmination of more than 3,000 meetings that were held in all 50 states and in Washington, DC, Obama said, stressing that when reforming such a massive system, all ideas and options must be on the table. Though he has not yet sent legislation to the U.S. Congress on the issue, Obama pledged his confidence “that if we come together…we will finally achieve what generations of Americans have fought for and fulfill the promise of health care in our time.”
