Obama attacks insurance premiums

Extract from BBC News, 16 August 2009

US President Barack Obama has stepped up his drive for healthcare reform, attacking excessive premiums charged by insurance companies.

Speaking in Colorado, Mr Obama said that under his plan companies would not be allowed to charge exorbitant fees nor place arbitrary limits on coverage.

Mr Obama is making a series of "town-hall" speeches to back his campaign.

Extending coverage to the millions of Americans who lack health insurance is Mr Obama's top priority for 2009.

His reform plan is currently under debate in the US Congress.

Some 46 million people in America currently do not have health insurance, and rising healthcare costs are a major contributing factor to America's spiralling budget deficit.

'No silver bullet'

Mr Obama said insurance companies had to be held accountable for practices that had led to premiums nearly doubling for the average American family over the past few years.

HEALTHCARE IN THE US

46 million uninsured, 25 million under-insured

Healthcare costs represent 16% of GDP, almost twice OECD average

Reform plans would require all Americans to get insurance

Some propose public insurance option to compete with private insurers

He said: "We're going to ban arbitrary caps on benefits. We'll place limits on how much you can charge on out-of-pocket expenses. No-one in America should go broke because they get sick."

Mr Obama admitted there was "no perfect painless silver bullet out there that solves every problem, gives everybody healthcare for free".

But he said he had "a lot of really smart people around me who've been working on this for months now".

Mr Obama also accused his political opponents of using scare tactics in their campaign against the reform.

He added: "I need you to stand for hope. I need you to knock on doors. I need you to spread the word. Because we are going to get this done this year."

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