U.S. President Barack Obama hit the airwaves with force Sunday morning, appearing on five major television networks to sell his vision for overhauling the health care system, two days before a Senate committee votes on its version of a health care reform bill.
Obama, who has given numerous interviews and press conferences since taking office in January, sat down with ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and the Hispanic network Univision on Friday to pre-tape interviews for the Sunday public affairs programs.
The interviews also covered economic recovery and the war in Afghanistan.
But it is health care reform that Obama is trying to sell to Congress and the American public, and the president pressed the need to get costs under control while securing coverage for the millions of people who are uninsured.
"Part of what I've been trying to say throughout this campaign -- this effort to get health care done -- is that if we don't do anything, guaranteed, Americans' costs are going to go up, more people are going to lose health care coverage, the insurance companies are going to continue to prevent people from getting it for pre-existing conditions," Obama told ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. "Those are all burdens on people who have health insurance right now."
During the interviews, Obama said health care premiums rose 5.5 per cent last year, a period when inflation was actually negative. In the last 10 years, Americans' health care premiums have jumped by 130 per cent, he said.
One element of his proposed health care overhaul, which is also included in the Finance Committee's bill, is to mandate that all Americans acquire health insurance so costs are shared by all citizens. Anyone who refuses would face financial penalties.
"What it's saying is, is that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore," Obama said. "Right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase."
Obama also pressed the need for insurance reforms so that patients are not surprised by hidden costs or suddenly learn they do not qualify for certain coverage after faithfully paying their premiums.
He also would like a tax on companies that offer employees high-cost insurance plans.
"We want to make sure we're using our health dollars wisely and I do think that giving a dis-incentive to insurance companies to offer Cadillac plans that don't make people healthier is part of the way that we're going to bring down health care costs for everybody over the long term," Obama told CNN's State of the Union.
According to Obama, about 80 per cent of what he'd like for health care reform is already in the various proposals that are floating around Congress.
"That last 20 per cent is tough because we've got to figure out -- making sure that we're paying for it properly, making sure that it really is relief to families who don't have health insurance, making sure that all the various details that are out there line up," Obama told This Week. "And that's going to take some time."
On Tuesday, members of the Senate Finance Committee will vote on the bill proposed by committee chairman, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana.
Any attempt at health care reform must pass the deeply divided 23-member committee. If it can't approve a bill, it will dim Obama's hope of getting health care reform passed this year.
Baucus's 10-year, $856 billion plan includes the mandate for all Americans to get health insurance, as well as a comparison shopping option and tax credits.
It also calls for the expansion of health programs for the poor and would prevent insurers from denying coverage based on someone's medical history.
But Obama said it is unlikely that the bill would arrive at his desk for approval as is. Committee members have already suggested 560 amendments.
Democratic amendments include better subsidies to make coverage more affordable, and reducing or scrapping the proposed tax on high-cost plans.
Republicans are unhappy with the insurance requirement and the stiff penalties for non-compliance.
The committee has scheduled three days to work on the bill, but that may not be long enough to deal with all of the proposed amendments.
With files from The Associated Press
