The Final State of the Union
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Summary:
Doctors from across the nation come to support health insurance reform
It might seem merely symbolic that there were doctors from all 50 states here at the White House, but it’s symbolic of a deep truth about the health insurance reform debate. As the President said today, "when you cut through all the noise and all the distractions that are out there, I think what's most telling is that some of the people who are most supportive of reform are the very medical professionals who know the health care system best -- the doctors and nurses of America."
He continued:
These men and women here would not be supporting health insurance reform if they really believed that it would lead to government bureaucrats making decisions that are best left to doctors. They wouldn't be here today if they believed that reform in any way would damage the very critical and sacred doctor-patient relationship.
Instead, the reason these doctors are here is because they have seen firsthand what's broken about our health care system. They've seen what happens when their patients can't get the care they need because some insurance company has decided to drop their coverage or water it down. They've seen what happens when a patient is forced to pay out of pocket thousands of dollars she doesn't have for treatments that she desperately needs. They've seen what happens when patients don't come in for regular check-ups or screenings because either their insurance company doesn't cover it or they can't afford insurance in the first place. And they've seen far too much of time that they want to devote to taking care of patients spent filling out forms and haggling with insurance companies about payments.
So these doctors know what needs to be fixed about our health care system. And they know that health insurance reform will do -- that it will go a long way towards making patients healthier and doctors and nurses to be able to perform that -- those tasks that are so important to them and led them into medicine in the first place.
(President Barack Obama speaks to doctors on the health care reform in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. Listening to the President are, from left, Dr. Hershey Garner of Fayetteville, Ark., , Dr. Mona Mangat of St. Petersburg, Fla., Dr. Richard Evans of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and Dr. Amanda McKinney of Beatrice, Neb. Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
