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Reactions to President Barack Obama's health care speech
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Releases)—Following are reactions from Jewish public officials and interest groups to the speech delivered Wednesday evening by U.S. President Barack Obama to a joint session of Congress. Here is a link to the text of the speech.
Senator Benjamin Cardin, M.D. (Democrat, Maryland):“I applaud the President for directly confronting one of the most pressing issues facing our country today – the skyrocketing cost of health care. The need for health reform is very real, as each day 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance. Throughout the summer, at town hall meetings and other events across our state, I have met face-to-face with many Marylanders who have struggled to afford their current health coverage or have been denied access by insurers. The President reminded us all tonight of the immense cost of inaction to these individuals, families, small business, and our entire national economy. For their sake, we must pass health care reform this year. The goal of successful health care reform is clear. We must bring down the escalating cost of health care while providing access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans. And we must accomplish this without adding to our nation’s deficit. Competition is the best way to help keep costs down. Like the President, I support building upon our current system of employer-based, private insurance coverage, which now covers more than 150 million Americans. But we have a sizeable and growing population who are not eligible for health coverage through an employer, have been rejected by private insurance companies, who have been subjected to premium increases that they can no longer afford, or otherwise do not have health insurance. I agree with the President that a public option for health coverage – which is only about who pays for the coverage and not who provides the medical care – would be the most effective way to provide an affordable, quality plan for those not otherwise covered by private insurers. It would help keep private insurers in check by serving as a low-cost competitor.”
Senator Frank Lautenberg (Democrat-New Jersey):
“President Obama showed great leadership tonight and made the case for why health care reform is so important to our economy and of course, the well-being of our families. We need to make quality, affordable and stable health care available to every American so that no individual or family drowns in medical debt or is denied the care they need. I share the President’s vision and pledge to fight for reforms that will benefit New Jersey families.”
Senator Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan): "The president clearly and forcefully laid out what’s at stake for every American in this debate. For those who have health insurance now, the situation is unsustainable because of rising costs and uncertainty over whether their insurance will cover them when they need it. And the president gave us a path to help the millions of Americans without insurance out of that dire and unacceptable circumstance. Now, it’s time for Congress to act, hopefully in a bipartisan fashion, after an opportunity for full debate.”
Congressman Steve Rothman (Democrat, New Jersey): “I believe President Obama’s speech changed not only the tone of the debate, but the momentum and likelihood of passage. He demonstrated how Congress can build upon those parts of our health care system that work well, while at the same time, fixing the real problems of those with and without health insurance, who now suffer so much unnecessary cost, uncertainty and heartache. Members of Congress, people across the country, my constituents at my Listening Sessions have all weighed in on this issue. I think the time was right for the President to come to us tonight and share with us his thoughts directly. What I heard tonight is a step in the right direction – the President’s call for providing security and stability for those who have health insurance; providing insurance to those who do not have it; and slowing the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses and our government are all worthy goals. As with everything, the devil is in the details, and in the coming weeks I will work with my colleagues, listen to the people I represent and read the final proposal that comes before Congress before I cast my vote.”
Congressman Brad Sherman (Democrat, California): “Tonight the President began to do something that we needed to do early in the process: explain to Americans who like their health coverage why a change in law is necessary. The President was clear. If you like the coverage you have, and we adopt his reform proposal, you can keep what you have.
However, if you like the coverage you have, and we do not adopt a reform proposal, you will not keep what you have. A failure to change our laws guarantees very adverse changes in the health insurance marketplace. As people with good coverage already understand, their Insurance cards are shrinking. Every day, there are higher deductibles, higher copayments, limits on what services are provided, and the total amount that can be spent to keep any one person alive. Every day, the costs to employers and to employees, goes up. And every day some employers either drop coverage, or switch to some super-high deductible plan. Even if your employer continues to provide great coverage, your employer must compete with other companies that are providing less. Every day your employer is paying more for health coverage, and some of your employer’s competitors are paying less—by dropping or gutting the health coverage they offer to their employees. Today, there are 46 million uninsured and one in five persons taken to the emergency room does not have coverage. Hospitals do not collect for the emergency services provided to the uninsured. Hospitals must then increase what they charge those patients who do have coverage. Those increases are translated into higher charges to your health insurance company, and higher premiums to employers and employees. As a result of these increases, some employers drop coverage. Soon we’ll have 56 million or 66 million uninsured. Soon it will be one in three, or one in four persons taken to an emergency room that do not have coverage, and for whom the hospital is not paid. At that point, hospitals will have to close their emergency rooms because they cannot charge two patients who have coverage enough money to cover one patient who doesn’t. Again, if you like what you have and we adopt the President’s plan, you keep it. If you like what you have and we do not adopt the President’s plan, you lose it."
Senator Arlen Specter (Democrat, Pennsylvania): “The President’s speech was inspirational with a substantive, pragmatic blueprint for comprehensive insurance healthcare reform without adding to the deficit or the national debt. Invoking the passion of Senator Kennedy, he correctly challenged the Congress on the morality of providing health care for the needy and the practicality of making health insurance affordable for the middle class.”
Congressman Henry Waxman (Democrat, California): "Tonight the President re-focused the nation’s attention on all the reasons we need to reform our health care system. He cut through the smokescreen of distortions and outright lies that too frequently dominated the debate in August. This is about every American who is one step away from losing their health
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insurance if they lose their job. This is about people who see their premiums soar when they develop a health care problem. This is about people who can’t get coverage if they have a pre-existing condition. This is about every family and every business struggling with health care costs. He told us his vision for what we need to do, and set out specific approaches for moving forward that includes both Republican and Democratic ideas. And he made it clear he will use his prestige and all his considerable leadership and communication skills to achieve a meaningful health care reform bill that will affect every American. I am ready to do all I can to work with the President and my colleagues in the House and Senate to pass this legislation and enact it into law.”
B'nai B'rith International—In his address before a joint session of Congress tonight, President Obama took a major step toward advancing healthcare reform. B’nai B’rith International welcomes the president’s efforts to advance critically needed reforms to our healthcare system. B’nai B’rith was pleased with some of the details in the president’s specific policy proposals. Of course, a 47-minute speech cannot address all details. B’nai B’rith hopes that, as lawmakers continue to debate reform legislation, more details will emerge and the book is left open for some changes, especially with regard to ending insurance discrimination once and for all.With this address, the president reclaimed the agenda from those who would rather do nothing,” B’nai B’rith Director of Aging Policy Rachel Goldberg, Ph.D., said. “It’s fine to have differences of opinion, but they cannot come at the expense of making real changes or be resolved by using half truths, fabrications, and scare tactics. Our current system, with 47 million Americans uninsured, millions underinsured (leaving them one medical catastrophe from bankruptcy), and most with insurance tied to their jobs in an unstable job market, has some very real problems. Without reforms, these problems will continue to threaten the physical health of far too many, and the economic health of the nation. B’nai B’rith is encouraged that the president spoke directly to the concerns of seniors. The president said of Medicare, it’s a “sacred trust that must be passed down” from one generation to the next. It was also heartening that the president directly debunked some of the most misleading rumors about how reform would affect Medicare. The most effective anti-healthcare reform scare tactics have been directed at senior citizens, who would actually benefit from proposed improvements to Medicare,” Mark Olshan, B’nai B’rith International associate executive vice president said. “The plans being discussed by the president and Congress would strengthen Medicare financially and eliminate notorious gaps like the ‘donut hole.’” B’nai B’rith has long advocated an end to the discrimination in health insurance pricing that has older adults paying too much for insurance. This is something we had hoped the president would have addressed. In the current insurance discriminatory practices, the “middle-aged,” the sick, and those with pre-existing or chronic conditions, are often unable to get comprehensive health insurance in the private market at a price that is even comparatively affordable. The president forcefully vowed to eliminate discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. We would have also liked to hear him talk about ending age discrimination, and we hope lawmakers take up the issue as they work toward a final plan. B’nai B’rith is pleased the president was unequivocal in the need to act swiftly. “As the president said, healthcare costs will only continue to grow,” Goldberg said. “The United States spends more per capita on healthcare than nearly every nation in the world, but we still fall short on many measures of healthcare outcomes.” B’nai B’rith agrees that Americans who have insurance they like should be able to keep it. So far, we are satisfied that plans emerging from the House and Senate, as well as from the president this evening, would allow people to keep what they have – which our current jumbled system does not guarantee. But coverage must be expanded to those who don’t have insurance. That will benefit everyone. Despite a summer of misinformation and scare tactics, there already is some positive agreement. As the president noted, 80 percent of what is in the House bill – the most detailed legislation so far – has been agreed to by prominent groups of doctors, hospitals, the insurance industry, and those who advocate on behalf of the uninsured. What most people want – affordable healthcare for everyone that doesn’t go away when you get sick – is in this bill. B’nai B’rith looks forward to working with the White House and lawmakers to make healthcare reform a reality. Comprehensive healthcare reform cannot wait."
Christian law group files suit favoring Bible reading in school
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)-- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have asked the United States Supreme Court to hear the case of a Pennsylvania mother who was forbidden from reading a passage from Psalms as part of an "All About Me" kindergarten classroom program intended to spotlight her son and his favorite book, the Bible. In challenging a ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Rutherford Institute attorneys argue that the appellate court's decision gives school officials too much discretion to discriminate against expression on the basis of its religious nature in violation of the First Amendment.
"By excluding religious expression, and Christian expression and symbols in particular, from the classroom, school officials have exhibited the kind of hostility toward religion that should never be found in an American public school," stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "If these acts of censorship and discrimination are allowed to continue, there will be absolutely no freedom for religious people in public schools in this country."
The case began in October 2004, when Donna Busch accepted an invitation to visit her son Wesley's kindergarten classroom at Culbertson Elementary School in Newtown Square, Penn., and read an excerpt of Wesley's favorite book to his classmates. Wesley's teacher had invited Mrs. Busch because Wesley was the featured student of "All About Me," a school program intended to feature a particular student during the week and emphasize that student's personal characteristics, preferences and personality in classroom activities. One activity made available to featured students during "All About Me" is the opportunity to have the child's parent read aloud from his or her favorite book. Wesley, a Christian, had chosen the Bible as his favorite book, and Mrs. Busch planned to read an excerpt from Psalm 118.
However, on the day of the reading, Wesley's teacher directed Mrs. Busch not to read the passage until the principal had determined if it could be read to the class. When Principal Thomas Cook was summoned, he informed Mrs. Busch that she could not read from the Bible in the classroom because it was against the law and that the reading would violate the "separation of church and state." Mrs. Busch was then allegedly offered the opportunity to read from a book about witches, witchcraft and Halloween, which she declined to do.
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