President Addresses the Nation on Health Care Reform
July 20, 2009
President Obama held a primetime news conference on Wednesday, July 22, that focused almost exclusively on health care. For the first time, the President verbally supported a new tax that would raise income taxes on families earning more than $1 million a year. However, he firmly stated that he is opposed to any health reform legislation that is primarily funded through taxing middle-class families. During his address, Obama continuously argued that his proposals would reduce the federal deficit because they would be fully paid for and would slow the rate of increase in health care costs.
Additionally, Obama countered accusations that his plan would eventually cause people to lose their private insurance. Critics have voiced that the public plan would eliminate the private health insurance market and force people into the government-run plan; however, Obama argued that the competition from a government insurer would force private insurers to improve their plans and reasserted that people who are happy with their current insurance will be able to keep it.
