English subtitles for clip: File:2009-06-06 President Obama's Weekly Address.ogv

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Over the past few days, I've been traveling through the Middle East and Europe

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working to renew our alliances, enhance our common security,

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and propose a new partnership

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between the United States and the Muslim world.

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But even as I'm abroad,

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I'm firmly focused on the other pressing challenges we face –

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including the urgent need to reform our health care system.

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Even as we speak, Congress is preparing to introduce and debate

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health reform legislation that is the product of many months of effort and deliberation.

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And if you're like any of the Americans I've met across this country

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who know all too well that the soaring costs of health care

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make our current course unsustainable,

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I imagine you'll be watching their progress closely.

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I'm talking about the families I've met whose spiraling premiums and

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out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy or

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forcing them to go without the check-ups or prescriptions they need.

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Business owners who fear they'll be forced to choose between keeping their doors open

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or covering their workers.

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Americans who rightly worry that the ballooning costs

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of Medicare and Medicaid

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could lead to fiscal catastrophe down the road.

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Simply put, the status quo is broken.

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We cannot continue this way.

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If we do nothing,

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everyone's health care will be put in jeopardy.

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Within a decade, we'll spend one dollar out of every five we earn on health care –

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and we'll keep getting less for our money.

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That's why fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve –

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it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer.

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The growing consensus around that reality has led an unprecedented coalition to come together for change.

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Unlike past attempts at reforming our health care system, everyone is at the table –

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patient's advocates and health insurers; business and labor; Democrats and Republicans alike.

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A few weeks ago, some of these improbable allies committed to cut national health care spending by two trillion dollars over the next decade.

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What makes this so remarkable is that it probably wouldn't have happened just a few short years ago.

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But today, at this historic juncture, even old adversaries are united around the same goal:

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quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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Now, I know that when you bring together disparate groups with differing views, there will be lively debate.

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And that's a debate I welcome.

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But what we can't accept is reform that just invests more money in the status quo –

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reform that throws good money after bad habits.

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Instead, we must attack the root causes of skyrocketing health care costs.

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Some of these costs are the result of unwarranted profiteering that has no place in our health care system,

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and in too many communities, folks are paying higher costs without receiving better care in return.

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And yet we know, for example, that there are places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota,

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the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio,

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and other institutions that offer some of the highest quality of care in the nation at some of the lowest costs in the nation.

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We should learn from their successes and promote the best practices,

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not the most expensive ones.

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That's how we'll achieve reform that fixes what doesn't work, and builds on what does.

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This week, I conveyed to Congress my belief that any health care reform must be built around fundamental reforms that lower costs,

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improve quality and coverage, and also protect consumer choice.

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That means if you like the plan you have, you can keep it.

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If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too.

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The only change you'll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold.

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I also made it very clear to Congress that we must develop a plan that doesn't add to our budget deficit.

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My budget included an historic down payment on reform,

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and we'll work with Congress to fully cover

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the costs through rigorous spending reductions and appropriate additional revenues.

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We'll eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in our health care system,

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but we'll also take on key causes of rising costs – saving billions while providing better care to the American people.

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Now all across America, our families are making hard choices when it comes to health care.

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Now, it's time for Washington to make the right ones.

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It's time to deliver.

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And I am absolutely convinced that if we keep working together and living up to our mutual responsibilities;

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if we place the American people's interests above the special interests;

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we will seize this historic opportunity to finally fix what ails our broken health care system,

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and strengthen our economy and our country now and for decades to come.