· With health insurance reform closer than ever before, it’s important that Americans know all the facts about what reform would mean for them – and what inaction would mean for the country.
· The health care status quo is unsustainable. Skyrocketing health care costs are straining family budgets, threatening American businesses’ viability, and exploding our national deficit. Even Americans with good insurance are finding that they are paying more and more out of pocket for premiums, deductibles, co-payments and they are getting less for what they pay.
· If we fail to act now, everyone’s health care coverage will be in jeopardy.
o Thousands of Americans will continue to lose their insurance each day.
o Americans with insurance will continue to pay more for less.
o Small businesses will continue to be forced to choose between covering their employees and staying afloat.
o And rising health costs are inflating the cost of Medicare and Medicaid, making those programs the number one driver of long-term national deficits.
· When President Obama signs a health insurance reform bill into law, the discrimination, dropping, and coverage gaps that riddle today’s health insurance system will be a thing of the past.
o Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition or refuse to renew your policy because you get sick.
o They won’t be able to charge exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses for things like co-pays and deductibles, or cap the amount of coverage you’re able to receive.
o And they’ll have to fully cover – without charge – regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.
· But as is so often the case when we get close to change in Washington, some powerful vested interests are going all out in defense of the status quo. They’re dedicating their considerable resources to spreading baseless rumors and outright falsehoods in hopes of blocking the reforms that American families so desperately need.
· That’s why, today, we are launching www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck, a site where administration officials and experts will debunk the smears and set the record straight.
o This website is a place that Americans can go to get the truth about health insurance reform straight from the source, and then share that information with their friends and families.
