Health Insurance Articles

President Obama Addresses Doctors About Health Care

2009-10-09

On Monday, Oct. 5, President Obama delivered a speech about health care reform to a group of doctors in the White House Rose Garden. The speech touched on some of the recent difficulties the president has had making his case for health care reform. However, it primarily focused on steps the White House is taking to make life easier for doctors across the country. The attendees represented several medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the National Medical Association and the American College of Pediatrics.

While President Obama stopped short of laying out a concrete plan for health care reform, he reiterated his desire to see all Americans receive health insurance coverage, regardless of income level. He also presented some ideas for easing relationships between physicians and health insurance companies by cutting down on the amount of paperwork and red tape currently required to get Americans the health insurance coverage they need. One proposal laid out in the speech, previously discussed by the White House, would call for a national electronic database for all patients. This sort of system would have numerous benefits.

"In a system carefully constructed to protect patient privacy, physicians will have less paperwork to fill out, more critical information at their fingertips, and more time to spend with their patients " and expensive tests won't have to be repeated over and over again," President Obama said.

Many are opposed to a national database, citing privacy concerns, but President Obama assured those in attendance that any such plan would be "carefully constructed to protect patient privacy."

The president went on to say that his health care reforms would result in doctors spending less time talking to insurance companies on the phone and more time helping patients - although he didn't lay out any specifics for how he would accomplish that goal. He also outlined a loan-forgiveness program "for primary care physicians who choose to practice in rural and underserved areas," an allusion to the disparities in health insurance coverage between high-income and low-income areas.

President Obama ended his speech with a call for action among the doctors in attendance. He urged doctors, who he says know the system best to use their credibility on the subject to help him in his goal of getting health care reform passed this year. He asked every doctor "to fan out across the country and make the case about why this reform effort is so desperately needed."

Only time will tell if this speech has lasting implications on the health care debate, but the president's strategy of speaking directly with those on the front lines of our nation's health care certainly may pay dividends as more and more doctors appear to be backing his health care reforms.