16 June,2009 08:47 AM IST | | PTI
US President Barack Obama took his case for overhauling the country's health care system to America's largest doctors' group, warning that the escalating health care cost is a "ticking time-bomb", which if not fixed will cripple the nation's economy and take America "the way of GM".
Addressing the powerful American Medical Association (AMA) that has a 250,000 strong membership base, Obama said while the country is spending two trillion dollars a year on health care, "more of our citizens are uninsured, the quality of our care is often lower and we are not any healthier".
"The cost of our health care is a threat to our economy. It is a ticking time-bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America.
If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM, paying more, getting less and going broke," Obama said at the annual meeting of the AMA here.
He said a large part of the woes that have plagued bankrupt General Motors and Chrysler in recent decades is the huge costs the automakers racked up while providing health care for their workers, making them less profitable and less competitive with automakers around the world.
Terming the health care reform a necessity, the President, whose visit to his hometown was the second since he took office, said if the health care system is not fixed, premiums would climb higher, benefits would erode further and the rolls of uninsured will swell to include millions more Americans.
Spelling out his agenda for an improved health care system, Obama said the reform would be guided by a "simple principle: fix what's broken and build on what works."
In an attempt to ally apprehensions, Obama said those Americans who are content with their health care coverage and doctors would not be forced to shift to a new health plan or switch their doctors once changes in the system are implemented.
Obama has made reforming the country's health care system his top priority as he aims to extend medical coverage to 46 million uninsured Americans.
He favours a new public insurance plan that would offer government-sponsored health care to those not eligible and one that competes with private insurers.
The public option has drawn flak from Obama's opponents as well as doctors on the grounds that it would be unfair to the private insurers. Obama said "These are legitimate concerns, but ones, I believe, that can be overcome".
