President Barack Obama recently gave the State of the Union address. His speech covered a wide variety of topics. Although the primary focus of the speech was not on health insurance, there were some remarks made that did touch on that subject.
The State of the Union is an annual speech that the President of the United States presents to the United States Congress. It has several purposes. The State of the Union address is a report on the condition of the nation. The speech allows the current President to outline his legislative agenda, which he will, obviously, require the help of Congress in order to implement. It also is a way for the President to state his national priorities.
Article II, Section 3 of the United States Constitution reads:
“He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and to recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient”.
The “He” in this statement refers to the President of the United States. Traditionally, the President will make this report sometime in late January.
While the focus of the State of the Union (SOTU) was not primarily on health care, the President did say some things that do relate to health care, health insurance, and health reform. You can read the State of the Union speech, in its entirety, on the White House website.
Kaiser Health News has compiled a list of quotes from the SOTU speech that relate to health care. I found this one to be particularly interesting:
“I will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny your coverage, or charge women differently than men…”
Clearly, this is a reference to the Affordable Care Act. I think the “unchecked power” refers to the way that many health insurance companies, in the past, would drop coverage for people who developed a serious (and expensive to treat) illness.
The quote also notes that, before the Affordable Care Act, insurers were allowed to refuse to cover the people who were the sickest, and the most in need of health insurance, (those with preexisting conditions). It also points out that women often get charged higher premiums than men do, because most insurers make women pay extra money in order to purchase an extra rider, called “maternity coverage”, in addition to their original health insurance plan.
Another interesting quote reads:
“The American people know what the right choice is. So do I. As I told the Speaker this summer, I’m prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors…”
This, in my opinion, refutes claims recently made by Rick Santorum when he was in Florida. He was telling seniors that the Affordable Care Act would, in short, take away their Medicare.
Image by Steve Jurvetson on Flickr