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Cheryl wrote to Obama to OPPOSE the Health Care Bill. This is the response she received.
Dear Friend:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. I have heard from countless Americans struggling to afford health insurance and health professionals striving to provide care. I appreciate your perspective.
There is broad consensus among the American people on the need for affordable, high-quality health care. The rising cost of health care is the most pressing financial challenge for families and
for our Nation, and controlling this cost is essential to bringing down the Federal deficits we inherited.
We must also end unfair insurance practices that leave millions of Americans without coverage, deny them access to coverage, and expose them to
extraordinary burdens. And we should ensure that small businesses have access to affordable, high-quality health plans for their employees so that we can make our economy - and our small businesses - more competitive. Now is the time to move forward, and I am working to get health insurance reform done this year.
Since I took office, we have done more to improve health care than we have in the previous decade. In February, I signed H.R. 2 to provide coverage for millions of children through the
Children's Health Insurance Program, and I signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to make key investments in computerized medical records and preventive services.
Still, more must be done to lower costs, expand coverage, and improve the quality of health care. Health insurance reform must provide more security and stability to those who have health
insurance; make sure those who do not have insurance can find affordable options; and lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government. Reform will benefit seniors by protecting and strengthening Medicare, closing the "donut-hole" gap in coverage for prescription drugs, and providing free preventive care. To help fulfill the debt we owe to our service men and women, I am committed to ensuring that we provide the highest-quality health care possible to America's veterans. My 2010 budget requests the largest single-year increase in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs in three decades and significantly expands health care coverage to an additional 500,000 veterans by 2013.
Ultimately, there are tough choices to be made, and I am working to bring employers and workers, health care providers and patients together to create a system that delivers high-quality health care and puts the Nation on a sustainable, long-term fiscal path. To learn more about my Health Insurance Reform Plan or to share a personal story, please join me online at:
www.HealthReform.gov. For further information on health care and assistance that may be available to you, you may call 1-800-FED-INFO or visit: www.USA.gov.
I share the sense of urgency that millions of Americans have voiced. I watched as my ailing mother struggled with stacks of insurance forms in the last moments of her life. This is not who
we are as a Nation; together, we will fix it.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
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