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Skriven 2007-07-18 23:31:12 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070718) for Wed, 2007 Jul 18
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President Bush Participates in Roundtable on Health Care
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 18, 2007

President Bush Participates in Roundtable on Health Care Man and Machine,
Inc. Landover, Maryland

˙ /news/releases/2007/07/20070718.wm.v.html ˙˙Presidential Remarks
˙˙Audio ˙˙Photos ˙˙En Espa¤ol

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Health Care ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Small Business

11:27 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Today I've had a really good discussion about health care
and health care problems with three business owners and employees of the
small business with Secretary Leavitt and Mark McClellan and Administrator
Preston. I heard a common complaint, that health care is -- costs are too
high; that small business owners feel very pinched by these high costs;
that they don't like the idea of having to make the decision between
providing health care for their employees and not expanding their
businesses.

And the fundamental question, given these frustrations, is what do we do
about it as a nation. There is an interesting debate taking place in
Congress, and there is a philosophical divide. Some in Congress believe the
best solution to solving the frustrations of uninsured and high costs for
small businesses is to expand the role of government. I have a different
point of view. I believe the best way to deal with the frustrations of the
high cost of health care and uninsured is to change the tax code, is to
make health care in the private sector more affordable and more available.

The debate in Congress is now centering around what's called S-CHIP, which
is the Children's Health Care Insurance Program. It was a program initially
designed to help poor families afford health care for their children. I
support that concept. As a matter of fact, the budget I submitted funds
health care for poor children. Members of Congress have decided, however,
to expand the program to include, in some cases, up to families earning
$80,000 a year -- which would cause people to drop their private insurance
in order to be involved with a government insurance plan.

And when you couple that with the idea that some have suggested of reducing
the age at which you can be eligible for Medicare, you're beginning to get
a sense of a strategy to grow the government's role in the provision of
health care. I believe government cannot provide affordable health care. I
believe it would cause -- it would cause the quality of care to diminish. I
believe there would be lines and rationing over time. If Congress continues
to insist upon expanding health care through the S-CHIP program -- which,
by the way, would entail a huge tax increase for the American people --
I'll veto the bill.

Our proposal is a strategy that says to small business owners and
individuals we want you, one, to be in charge of your health care system --
health care decisions; and, two, we believe you're discriminated against in
the tax code. If you work for a large company, you get a tax break on your
health care. If you work for a small business and/or you're in the
individual market, you don't get the same tax break. And that's unfair and
it's not right. And, therefore, I have proposed to the United States
Congress that we have a $15,000 deductible for families and a $7,500
deductible for individuals, all aimed at encouraging people to be able to
afford insurance and aimed at the encouragement of the development of an
individual market.

I believe strongly that small businesses ought to be afforded the chance to
purchase health care across jurisdictional boundaries. Mike owns a small
restaurant, he ought to be able to pool risk with restaurants in Texas or
California or anywhere else, so he can better afford insurance. I want
patients making decisions, not bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. I want the
system to benefit the individual, the small business owner, not large
insurance companies.

And I really do believe that government involvement in health care will
lead to less quality care and rationing over time. And, therefore, we
proposed a plan. I urge the Congress to work with us on making the tax code
fair. I know there are different ideas as to whether or not there ought to
be a $15,000 deductible or a credit. I'm open-minded, I'm willing to
listen. But what I'm not willing to listen to is a direct expansion of the
federal role in providing -- a massive expansion of the federal role in
providing health care for individuals across the country.

Thank you all for having me. Cliff, thank you; you have a very interesting
company here. I'm proud to be with small business owners. I understand the
role of small businesses in our society. We have worked to reduce taxes on
small businesses because we want you to grow. And the fact that you are
growing across the country collectively is one reason why our economy is so
strong. And this economy is doing well. The unemployment rate is 4.5
percent. Small businesses are growing. People are working. Stock market is
up. Inflation is down. And we're going to keep it that way. One way you
keep it that way is to have good health care policy emanating out of
Washington, and another is to keep taxes low. And that's what we're going
to do. So thank you all.

END 11:32 A.M. EDT

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