Obama Tells AMA US Health-Care Costs Are a 'Ticking Time Bomb' | CommonDreams.org

Obama Tells AMA US Health-Care Costs Are a 'Ticking Time Bomb' | CommonDreams.org |

by John McCormick and Bruce Japsen

President Barack Obama called the cost of health care a "ticking time-bomb" that threatens to slow the nation's economic recovery as he pushed a massive reform plan during an appearance today in Chicago before the nation's largest doctors group.

"We are spending over $2 trillion a year on health care -- almost 50 percent more per person than the next most costly nation," he said during a nearly hour-long speech before the American Medical Association. "For all this spending, more of our citizens are uninsured, the quality of our care is often lower and we aren't any healthier."
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"The cost of our health care is a threat to our economy," he said. "It is an escalating burden on our families and businesses. It's a ticking time-bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America."

Obama also pointed to the costs incurred by companies to provide health care.

"A big part of what led General Motors and Chrysler into trouble in recent decades were the huge costs they racked up providing health care for their workers," he said. "If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM: paying more, getting less and going broke." ...