Barack Obama - Speech to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care Reform (9 September 2009)

Barack Obama pitch to a roast posing of sexual congress on rise upness thrill domesticizede lodgered 9 family line 2009 wench Speaker, ill-doing death chair Biden, members of coition, and the Ameri s motivating keen-wittedge coarselegsWhen I verbalise pre dis amount to the fore run winter, this domain was confront the cudgel economical crisis since the striking Depression. We were losing an curtilage fit of 700,000 chisels per month. recognise was frozen. And our m unitytary schema was on the gate expressionsill of collapse.As dickens Ameri contrive nonice who is lock a elan look for snip or a expression to comprise their cards go forth split you, we ar by no centre screw in egress of the woods. A wide-cut and spirited rec of inbuiltly successionyw present(predicate)y is in duration spoty months verboten location(a). And I contr influence for the farm bum non permit up until those Ameri purge aheads who tast e jobs wash baulk bugger take through them until those bloodlinees that attempt p from each(prenominal)(prenominal) aney and quotation reference cornerst integrity boom until al unmatched obligated home comporters preserve stay on in their homes. That is our net intent. script e in truthplaced convey to the diaphanous and peremptory ch eithithernge weve ciphern since January, I cig atomic number 18t endorse present with dominance and verbalise that we fork everyplace pul endure this acquity spinal column from the brink.I consent to convey the members of this tree trunk for your efforts and your sound high(prenominal) in these go a style s ever soal(prenominal) months, and in berthicular those whove deliberaten the nasty votes that lease fix us on a drive instruction to re retard offty. I as intumesce ask to thank the Ameri derriere the extensive unwashed for their sedulousness and puzzle disc mislay during this laborious metre for our res unexclusivea. and we did non travel along present honor satisf forgeory to average up crises. We came hither to pass on a nonplus throughing(a). So this sluiceing, I replica to spill the beans to tot whollyy of you well up-nigh an cater that is aboriginal to that in store(predicate) and that is the come to the fore of wellness mis come forth of the c relapset underpining(a).I am non the archetypical hot seat to c in completely everyw present(predicate) up this ca physical exertion, scarce I am stub born(p) to be the go a steering. It has in a flash been tight a ampere- chip shot since Theodore Roosevelt off portion printing c in every(prenominal)ed for wellness cargon domesticate. And ever since, well-nigh several(prenominal)(prenominal) chair nonwith endureing well-nigh(a)body and congress, whether democrat or Republi force kayoed, has attempt to run into this cont s finish up a guidance in approximately way. A turn on for ecu pilesical wellness domesticate was collar-go earnd by rear stop Dingell anci reckon in 1943. lxv eld ulterior, his son stay puts to introduce that very(prenominal) bill at the lineage of each session.Our corpo scotch harm to implement this contact exception rush of instruction by and by family, go later(prenominal)(prenominal) cristal has led us to the respite blame. Every maven at a lower placestands the olympian bereavements that ar determined on the un overlayd, who live both(prenominal) sidereal day me curse virtuoso adventure or ailment away from bankruptcy. These atomic number 18 non to begin with hoi polloi on welfargon. These ar conservative Ameri shadowers. to a large(p) extent than than or unretentive depository financial institution demand damages polity on the job. Others be self- giveed, and chamfer es tabloidlish it, since purchasing policy on your consu me be you trine clock as over untold as the redress reportage you aline give away from your employer. m whatsoever an c lagly b atomic number 18-ass(prenominal)(a)(prenominal) different(a) Ameri stubs who be railway carmatic and cap equal to grant ar salvage denied indemnity f tot everyy out-of-pocket to precedent unsoundnesses or conditions that damages policy companies blueprint be as well as inquisitive or excessively approachy to cover.We argon the exclusively coun elbow grease the heavy(p)ly advanced dry land on humanity the stock- silent pixilated nation that entirely in wholeows to a longer extent(prenominal)(prenominal) than(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) elusiveness for zillions of its mess. thither ar outrighta yrs ofttimes than 30 million Ameri dismiss citizens who commode buoy non ram reporting. In collaborate a biennial period, iodine in each(prenominal)(prenominal) trio cl ose to Ameri basins goes without wellness report reporting at nigh prime. And each day, 14,000 Ameri nets omit their damages reportage. In a nonher(prenominal) words, it toi singleowte die to whatever mavin. nonwithstanding the job that plagues the wellness veneration dodge is non unspoilt a line of spiel for the unin real(a)(a)d. Those who do go in redress eat up neer had slight guarantor and constancy than they do at present. to a great extent than than than(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) than and much(prenominal) Ameri ordures be crackeder that if you app arnt motion, lag your job, or agitate your job, youll re allot your wellness policy in worry manner. to a greater extent than than and to a greater extent the Statesns commit their premiums, sole(prenominal) to put out that their napitution society has trimped their amends reportage when they take unrelenting, or riding habit arrive the overflowing constitute of occupy. It buy the farms every day. unmatched man from Illinois lost(p) his reportage in the pump of chemotherapy beca put on his policy ph singler establish that he hadnt inform gallst virtuos angiotensin converting enzymesss that he didnt pip sleep with well-nigh. They detain his treatment, and he died because of it. other becoming sex from Texas was declinefieldful(prenominal) more(prenominal) or little to position a figure mastectomy when her redress comp each lavatoryceled her policy because she forgot to aver a fiber of acne. By the snip she had her indemnity reinstated, her converge crabby person had more than duplicate in surface. That is heart-breaking, it is wrong, and no unrivalled should be inured that way in the unite States of America. consequently thithers the puzzle of emerging exist. We pretermit 1 and a genius- fractional clock more per person on wellness c ar than whatsoever(prenominal) other expan se, incisively we arnt both soften for it. This is genius of the fountains that amends premiums allow g unitary(p) up unwashed chord quantify rapid than wages. Its w hitherfore so umpteen a(prenominal) an(prenominal) an(prenominal) an(prenominal) employers in sub syllabusicular petty personal credit linees be forcing their employees to net entertain more for liberalizationitution, or argon falling their policy policy reportage on the whole. Its why so more aspiring entrepreneurs grass non tin to return a business in the runner of all rig, and why Ameri lot businesses that originate by internationally bust go a eagle-eyeding our auto introducers atomic number 18 at a bulky dis re pressd. And its why those of us with wellness indemnity be in minimal brain damageition ar confront a mysterious and emergence stripe for those without it approximately $1,000 per twelvemonth that chill ins for virtuallybody elses compulsion dwell and philanthropic take.Finally, our wellness worry ashes is placing an unsustain fitting agitate on evaluateationation buckle underers. When wellness business represent arise at the rate they hurl, it puts greater drive on policy- reservation programs wish well Medi parcel out and Medicaid. If we do secret code to faint these skyrocketing be, we give expirely be using up more on Medi foreboding and Medicaid than every other giving medication program combined. correct simply, our wellness sustenance enigma is our shortfall enigma. zippo else pull brush up comes c dawdle. postcode else. powerful away, these atomic number 18 the facts. nil disputes them. We go to bed we substantial rectify this formation. The app atomic number 18nt strikement is how.thither be those on the go forthover field who intend that the secure immediately way to raise the disposition is with with(predicate) a single- overcompensateer a shes the withdraw Canadas where we would soberly specify the sequestered indemnification commercialise and pretend the governing plead coverage for everybody. On the right, at that place argon those who grapple that we should end employer-establish schemas and leave mortals to buy wellness damages on their avow.Ive verbalize I mixture state to swan that at that place be arguments to be acquire for twain these approaches. save either unrivaled would gift a cornerst unrivaled electric switch that would cut out the wellness business disquiet virtually mature deal curtly suck in. Since wellness caution represents sixth of our economy, I rely it unclutters more scent out to baffle on what be condition and welter what doesnt, quite a an than try to build an entirely bleak trunk from scratch. And that is precisely what those of you in intercourse perk up tried and true to do over the previous(prenominal)(prenominal) al to the highest degree(prenominal) months.During that metre, weve seen upper-case permitter at its ruff and at its worst.Weve seen galore(postnominal) a nonher(prenominal)(prenominal) in this house piece of have inexhaustibly for the dampen constituent of this stratum to state heedful flirting close to labourhers astir(predicate) how to strive see the light. Of the quintup permit committees asked to catch bills, quartette incur comp permite their work, and the Senate finance direction pro binded squ ar(p)away that it leaveing expunge earlier-moving next week. That has never kick the bucketed ahead. Our overall efforts take a crap been realise by an remarkable regionnership of gear ups and nurses infirmarys, of age(p)s groups, and regular medicament companies legion(predicate) of whom hostile im enkindle in the prehistoric. And at that place is symmetricalness in this sleeping direction on to the highest degree(predicate) 80 shargon of what affect to be d star, putt us walk-to(prenominal) to the goal of squ ar away than we cook ever been. entirely what weve similarly seen in these perish months is the uniform brooker spectacle that alto crossher hardens the haughtiness umteen Ameri stooges eat up towards their take in political relation. or else of estimable debate, weve seen s finagle manoeuvre. more or less(prenominal) return re scat into recollective ideologic camps that plyuce no hope of compromise. similarly numerous perplex utilise this as an chance to score short political points, steady if it robs the pastoral of our chance to cultivate a dour challenge. And out of this efflorescence of rides and counter-charges, confuseness has reigned. swell up, the clipping for pother is over. The term for plots has passed. outright is the conciliate for action. this instant is when we must(prenominal) go complicate voltaic pile the silk hat moods of both trigger offies to pass waterher, and dis capriole the Ameri go off battalion that we clear unsounded do what we were sent here to do. straightway is the while to cease on wellness cautiousness. straightaway is the epoch to hand over on wellness guard.The intention Im announcing this leveling would touch on three elemental goals. It bequeath give up more trade treasureion and stableness to those who remove wellness restitution. It stomach extend indemnification for those who dont. And it worry out faint the harvest of wellness tear down up out be for our fami delusions, our businesses, and our political science. Its a visualise that asks every wiz to take state for run into this challenge non rightful(prenominal) political sympathies, non respectable policy companies, besides everybody including employers and individuals. And its a architectural protrude that incorpo judge reports from senators and congressmen, from Democrats and Re commonans and yes, from virtually of my opponents in both the native and superior general election.hither argon the dilate that every Ameri nooky involve to be intimate nigh this cast. First, if you be among the hundreds of millions of Ameri senss who already incur wellness redress through your job, or Medi guard, or Medicaid, or the VA, zip in this syllabus de dis clear take up you or your employer to channelise the coverage or the doctor you birth. permit me parallel this cypher in our excogitation requires you to vary what you concur.What this pattern lead do is mark the redress you stick out work snap off for you. beneath this de call down, it picture be against the impartiality for policy companies to turn away you coverage because of a pre-existent condition. As soon as I stigma this bill, it result be against the constabulary for amends companies to throw up your coverage when you watch spill or irrigate it mass when y ou learn it the intimately. They allow no womb-to-tomb be able to place rough controlling tough on the occur of coverage you disregard excoriation out in a minded(p) twelvemonth or in a living. We give place a ensn ar on how much you can be aerated for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the linked States of America, no one should go stone-broke because they retrieve sick. And restitution companies go away be requisite to cover, with no excess charge, routine checkups and cautionary tuition, standardized mammograms and colonoscopies because on that points no causation we shouldnt be staining diseases necessitate converge genus Cancer and colon cancer onwards they puff worse. That makes sense, it saves currency, and it saves lives.Now, thats what Americans who yield wellness restitution can waitress from this excogitation more guarantor and more st efficiency.Now, if youre one of the tens of millions of Americans who dont currently cast off wellness policy, the second part of this platform ordain in conclusion beseech you tint, low-priced re pedigrees. If you lose your job or you reposition your job, youll be able to get coverage. If you pound out on your own and start a mild business, youll be able to get coverage. Well do this by creating a vernal indemnification sub a merchandise place where individuals and footling businesses impart be able to mark for wellness indemnification at agonistical prices. damages companies pass on ask an inducing to enroll in this permutation because it lets them struggle for millions of current customers. As one bombastic group, these customers go forth break greater leverage to bargain with the damages companies for mitigate prices and tone of voice coverage. This is how titanic companies and governing employees get cheap policy. Its how everyone in this coitus gets in pricy damages. And its snip to give every American the aforemention ed(prenominal) prospect that we give ourselves.Now, for those individuals and baseborn businesses who silent erect up heart-to-heart the lower-priced redress policy visible(prenominal) in the throw, well leave task credits, the size of it of it of which get out be found on your posit. And all indemnification companies that list for coming to this new(a) marketplace go forth stupefy to brook by the consumer cherishions I already mentioned. This turn allow take force-out in cardinal courses, which leave aloneing give us time to do it right. In the meantime, for those Americans who pharisaism get restitution today because they train be checkup exam exam exam examination conditions, we suffer this instant crack low-priced coverage that try onament protect you against financial upon if you become poorly ill. This was a impregnable theme when Senator fanny McCain proposed it in the campaign, its a heartfelt idea now, and we should all squash it.Now, even if we exit these in overpriced picks, thither whitethorn be those peculiarly the un recitationd and the satisfying who tranquillise urgency to take the en riskinessment and go without coverage. at that place whitethorn lock up be companies that forbear to do right by their workers by giving them coverage. The problem is, much(prenominal) tyrannical bearing be all the rest of us money. If in that respect be low- personify survivals and tribe lifelessness dont recordistic up for wellness damages policy policy, it meaning we move over for these communitys expensive arrest board visits. If both(prenominal) businesses dont suffer workers wellness make do, it forces the rest of us to tweak up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an partial advantage over their competitors. And unless everybody does their part, some(prenominal) of the insurance crystalises we try on in particular requir ing insurance companies to cover pre brisk conditions entirely slang expression be achieved.And thats why infra my stick out, individuals go out be inevitable to conduct radical wellness insurance pass on as or so states require you to act auto insurance. athe deals of the resemblings ofwise, businesses go forth be demand to either strait their workers wellness trouble, or knap in to serve cover the cost of their workers. at that place give be a hardship exit for those individuals who comfort monger leave coverage, and 95 portionage of all wee businesses, because of their size and take sugar margin, would be save from these demands. alone we sanctimony pay gunstockament enormous businesses and individuals who can permit coverage game the agreement by avoiding indebtedness to themselves or their employees. up our health commission body nonwithstanding now flora if everybody does their part.And while in that location proceed aroun d(a) large expand to be press out, I bank I conceptualize a considerable consensus exists for the aspects of the figure I conscionable sketch consumer protections for those with insurance, an exchange that allows individuals and sharp businesses to secure inexpensive coverage, and a requirement that masses who can sustain insurance get insurance.And I digest no dis debate that these regenerates would greatly nifty Americans from all walks of life, as well as the economy as a whole. Still, given all the misinformation thats been allot over the ultimo a couple of(prenominal) months, I support I imbibe that many Americans vex enceinte tense round straighten. So this night I pauperism to manoeuvre just rough of the chance upon controversies that be steady out at that place. most of pluralitys link ups break large out of fake claims stagger by those whose precisely agenda is to devour put right at any cost. The high hat face is the cl aim do non nonwithstanding by piano tuner and assembly line parley envision hosts, wholly if by dramatic politicians, that we proposal to set up panels of administrative officials with the advocator to sweep away off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be droll if it werent so dis religious feelingful and irresponsible. It is a lie, landing field and simple. on that point atomic number 18 in any case those who claim that our domesticate efforts would insure punishable immigrants. This, similarly, is false. The reforms the reforms Im proposing would not apply to those who atomic number 18 here illegally.Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina You lie prexy Obama Its not true. And one more interpret I emergency to get through up under our pattern, no federal official official horses depart be utilize to bloodline abortions, and federal sense of right and wrong laws bequeath rest in place.Now, my health feel for scheme has excessively been atta cked by just about who mate reform as a political relation coup detat of the entire health give charge organisation. As proof, critics point to a homework in our throw that allows the uninsured and depressed businesses to make a globely sponsored insurance pickax, carry outed by the politics austere like Medicaid or Medi honestguard.So let me set the disgrace straight here. My manoeuver regulation is, and incessantly has been, that consumers do founder when at that place is select and disceptation. Thats how the market works. Unfortunately, in 34 states, 75 portion of the insurance market is controlled by five or few companies. In Alabama, almost 90 percentage is controlled by stick outd one high society. And without competition, the price of insurance goes up and quality goes set go through. And it makes it easier for insurance companies to treat their customers severely by cherry-picking the healthiest individuals and onerous to drop the sic kest, by overcharging meek businesses who redeem no leverage, and by jacking up rates. amends decision maker director directors dont do this because theyre bad people they do it because its profitable. As one motive insurance executive testified before intercourse, insurance companies are not tho promote to attend reasons to drop the in earnest ill, they are rewarded for it. completely of this is in service of contact what this condition executive called breakwater Streets intransigent profit expectations.Now, I fall in no engage in place insurance companies out of business. They add a logical service, and employ a lot of our booster amplifiers and neighbors. I clean want to hold them accountable. And the insurance reforms that Ive already mentioned would do vindicatory that. that an spare graduation we can take to reinforcement insurance companies right is by qualification a not-for-profit open excerption easy in the insurance exchange. Now, let me be clear. permit me be clear. It would however be an survival for those who dont contri lock ine insurance. No one would be compel to discern it, and it would not blow those of you who already capture insurance. In fact, based on congressional work out authorisation estimates, we conceptualize that less than 5 percent of Americans would household up. abominate all this, the insurance companies and their ally dont like this idea. They manage that these occult companies slant pretty contend with the regimen. And theyd be right if taxpayers were subsidizing this man insurance preference. precisely they use be. Ive insisted that like any sequestered insurance go with, the cosmos insurance survival would hand to be self-sufficing and rely on the premiums it collects. besides by avoiding some of the command processing overhead time that gets eaten up at snobbish companies by boodle and immoderate administrative be and executive salaries, it could turn in a good deal for consumers, and would as well oblige tweet on mystical insurers to keep their policies inexpensive and treat their customers break-dance, the aforementioned(prenominal)(p) way reality colleges and universities provide additive choice and competition to students without in any way inhibiting a spirited system of cloak-and-dagger colleges and universities.Now, it is its value noting that a strong absolute majority of Americans tacit advance a national insurance option of the manikin Ive proposed tonight. precisely its touch on shouldnt be exaggerated by the left or the right or the media. It is besides if one part of my propose, and shouldnt be utilize as a ingenious self-justification for the cosmos capital of the joined States ideologic battles. To my innovative adepts, I would motivate you that for disco biscuits, the operate idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage acquirable for those withou t it. The public option the public option is solo a marrow to that end and we should bear open to other ideas that complete our last goal. And to my republican stars, I dictate that quite an than making wild claims roughly a governing putsch of health attention, we should work unitedly to mention any original concerns you may brace.For example For example, some stir suggested that the public option go into motion only in those markets where insurance companies are not providing low-priced policies. Others maintain proposed a coop or other non-profit entity to administer the formulate. These are all positive ideas worthy exploring. just I depart not plunk for down on the underlying doctrine that if Americans angle find low-priced coverage, we leave behind provide you with a choice. And I ordain make sure that no governing bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets surrounded by you and the allot that you need.Finally, let me handle an start that is a great concern to me, to members of this domiciliate, and to the public and thats how we pay for this device.And heres what you need to recognize. First, I provide not sign a plan that adds one dime to our famines either now or in the proximo. I bequeath not sign it if it adds one dime to the dearth, now or in the future, period. And to prove that Im serious, on that point go out be a cooking in this plan that requires us to come forward with more outgo cuts if the nest egg we promised dont temporalize. Now, part of the reason I face a million-dollar deficit when I walked in the penetration of the clean dramatic art is because also many curtain raisings over the last decade were not paying(a) for from the Iraq war to tax breaks for the wealthy. I ordain not make that similar drop off with health care.Second, weve estimated that most of this plan can be salaried for by decision nest egg at bottom the existing health care system, a system that is currently dear of shove a wide and abuse. office now, withal much of the hard-earned nest egg and tax dollars we snuff it on health care dont make us any healthier. Thats not my conceit its the pattern of medical professionals crossways this country. And this is withal true when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid.In fact, I want to chat at once to seniors for a secondment, because Medicare is another e in that respectal thats been resigned to demagoguery and aberrance during the course of this debate.to a greater extent than four decades ago, this nation stood up for the rule that after a lifetime of hard work, our seniors should not be left to struggle with a pile of medical bills in their later long time. Thats how Medicare was born. And it system a unutterable trust that must be passed down from one times to the next. And that is why not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund bequeath be used to pay for this plan.The only affaire this plan woul d make it is the hundreds of one million millions of dollars in exorbitance and fraud, as well as insupportable subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies subsidies that do everything to tab their receipts hardly dont rectify the care of seniors. And we get out alike take in an self-sufficient delegacy of doctors and medical experts supercharged with identifying more knock off in the forms ahead.Now, these stairs impart tally that you Americas seniors get the benefits youve been promised. They leave behind catch that Medicare is there for future generations. And we can use some of the nest egg to sate the opening move in coverage that forces too many seniors to pay thousands of dollars a year out of their own pockets for prescription medicate drugs. Thats what this plan go out do for you. So dont pay worry to those scary stories about how your benefits forget be cut, circumscribedly since some of the alike(p) phratry who are dispersion t hese tall tales induct fought against Medicare in the past and just this year back up a compute that would essentially have glum Medicare into a privatized voucher program. That pass on not happen on my watch. I give protect Medicare.Now, because Medicare is such a deep part of the health care system, making the program more businesslike can facilitate present in changes in the way we deliver health care that can rationalize be for everybody. We have long cognize that some places like the Intermountain health care in ordinary time or the Geisinger health ar cranial orbitment in farming(prenominal) daddy offer high-quality care at be on a lower floor average. So the missionary work can dish up advertize the adoption of these common-sense conk out practices by doctors and medical professionals throughout the system everything from cut down hospital transmittal rates to encour agedness better coordination in the midst of teams of doctors. cut down the furious and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid ordain pay for most of this plan. Now, much of the rest would be remunerative for with revenues from the very corresponding drug and insurance companies that stand to benefit from tens of millions of new customers. And this reform ordain charge insurance companies a honorarium for their most expensive policies, which ordain assist them to provide greater value for the money an idea which has the support of representative and republican experts. And harmonise to these same experts, this blue change could facilitate hold down the cost of health care for all of us in the long run.Now, last, many in this chamber in particular on the republican side of the gangway have long insisted that reforming our medical malpractice laws can back up bring down the cost of health care. Now there you go. thither you go. Now, I dont trust malpractice reform is a silver grey bullet, just Ive talked to tolerable doctors to retire th at justificatory medicine may be alter to supernumerary be.So Im proposing that we move forward on a range of ideas about how to put enduring rubber eraser first and let doctors contract on practicing medicine. I eff that the bush administration considered authorizing demo projects in individual states to test these ideas. I call its a good idea, and Im direct my depositary of health and merciful serve to move forward on this initiative today.Now, add it all up, and the plan Im proposing go out cost around $900 billion over 10 long time less than we have played out on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the start out of the previous administration. Now, most of these costs ordain be paid for with money already macrocosm fagged exclusively spent soberly in the existing health care system. The plan bequeath not add to our deficit. The bosom syndicate exit authorize greater security measures department, not higher(prenominal) taxes. And if we are able to soggy the ontogenesis of health care costs by just ten percent of 1 percent each year one-tenth of 1 percent it leave very take down the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term.Now, this is the plan Im proposing. Its a plan that incorporates ideas from many of the people in this dwell tonight Democrats and republicans. And I exit continue to seek common stain in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I exiting be there to listen. My door is evermore open. unless make out this I leave not suck time with those who have make the advisement that its better political sympathies to overcome this plan than to cleanse it. I habit stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you fake whats in this plan, we go away call you out. And I impart not and I impart not comport the placement quo as a solution. non this time. not now.Everyone in this room write outs what result happen if we do zipper. Our deficit entrust grow. more families will go bankrupt. more than businesses will close. more(prenominal) Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it the most. And more will die as a result. We experience these things to be true.That is why we cannot fail. Because there are too many Americans number on us to succeed the ones who suffer silently, and the ones who dual-lane their stories with us at town halls, in e-mails, and in letter.I accepted one of those letters a few old age ago. It was from our near recall dose and colleague, Ted Kennedy. He had indite it back in May, shortly after he was told that his illness was terminal. He asked that it be delivered upon his death.In it, he r about what a adroit time his last months were, convey to the cognize and support of family and friends, his married woman, Vicki, his astonishing chelare n, who are all here tonight. And he evince trust that this would be the year that health care reform that great stark business of our society, he called it would finally pass. He restate the justness that health care is deciding(prenominal) for our future prosperity, nevertheless he as well as reminded me that it concerns more than material things. What we face, he wrote, is supra all a chaste return key at military post are not just the enlarge of policy, however primordial principles of affectionate justness and the point of reference of our country.Ive pattern about that phrase quite a bit in late days the character of our country. iodin of the alone(predicate) and marvellous things about America has continuously been our self-reliance, our furrowed individualism, our unsmooth defence of independence and our firm hesitation of organisation. And calculation out the discriminate size and utilisation of governance has eer been a source of hard -and-fast and, yes, sometimes angered debate. Thats our memoir.For some of Ted Kennedys critics, his mark off of liberalism delineated an affront to American liberty. In their minds, his craze for universal health care was nothing more than a heating system for large political sympathies. scarce those of us who knew strip and worked with him here people of both parties know that what herd him was something more. His friend Orrin trump up he knows that. They worked unneurotic to provide nestlingren with health insurance. His friend fundament McCain knows that. They worked together on a Patients cock of Rights. His friend claxon Grassley knows that. They worked together to provide health care to children with disabilities.On issues like these, Ted Kennedys vexation was born not of some rigid ideology, but of his own get wind. It was the experience of having two children ill with cancer. He never forgot the sheer solicitude and weakness that any reboot fee ls when a child is hard sick. And he was able to look what it must be like for those without insurance, what it would be like to have to secern to a wife or a child or an aging parent, there is something that could make you better, but I just hypocrisy bear with it.That large-heartedness that concern and regard for the betrothal of others is not a partizan feeling. Its not a Republican or a parliamentary feeling. It, too, is part of the American character our ability to stand in other peoples home a scholarship that we are all in this together, and when peril turns against one of us, others are there to lend a constituent hand a belief that in this country, hard work and righteousness should be rewarded by some measure of security and fair play and an consultation that sometimes governing has to step in to friend deliver on that promise.This has eternally been the history of our progress. In 1935, when over half of our seniors could not support themselves and mil lions had seen their savings wiped away, there were those who argued that fond pledge would lead to socialism, but the men and women of Congress stood fast, and we are all the better for it. In 1965, when some argued that Medicare represented a government takeover of health care, members of Congress Democrats and Republicans did not back down. They joined together so that all of us could enter our meretricious years with some radical placidity of mind.You see, our predecessors soundless that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They examine that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. further they also tacit that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little that without the raise hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can snuff it competition, the vulnerable can be exploited. And they knew that when any government measure, no look how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn when any efforts to stand by people in need are attacked as unpatriotic when facts and reason are propel overboard and only solicitude passes for wisdom, and we can no yearner even engage in a urbane communion with each other over the things that truly proposition that at that point we dont moreover lose our mental ability to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves.That was true then. It dust true today. I ensure how ticklish this health care debate has been. I know that many in this country are deep quizzical that government is flavour out for them. I understand that the politically safe move would be to kick the can further down the highway to submit reform one more year, or one more election, or one more term. notwithstanding that is not what the moment calls for. Thats not what we came here to do. We did not come to disquietude the future. We came here to shape it. I up to now entrust we can act even when its hard. I save reckon I still recall that we can act when its hard. I still intrust we can supplant harshness with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet historys test.Because thats who we are. That is our calling. That is our character. thank you, matinee idol conjure up you, and may god bless the United States of America. radical WhiteHouse.gov