President Obama Sounds the Call for Health Care Reform

President Obama pledged during his Feb. 24 address to a joint session of Congress that his administration would push hard for comprehensive health care reform legislation this year. That dictum sends a clear message to the AAFP and its membership that they must be involved in the ongoing reform efforts, according to AAFP President Ted Epperly, M.D., of Boise, Idaho.

"We have been put on notice that health care reform will happen and that the AAFP membership needs to be a part of the solution," said Epperly in an interview with AAFP News Now after the address. "We must step forward now in everything we do to try to be part of the solution in transforming our health care system."

In the speech, Obama identified health care reform as one of the three major priorities of his administration, alongside energy issues and education. All three components are critical to the nation's economic future, he said, adding that the budget for fiscal year 2010 that he will submit on Feb. 26 will invest in each of the three areas.

Health care costs now account for a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds, Obama asserted, and could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes by the end of his year.

"In the past eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages, and in each of these years, 1 million more Americans have lost their health insurance," Obama said. "It is one of the major reasons small businesses close their doors and corporations shift jobs overseas. It is one of the largest and fastest growing parts of our budget."

The high cost of health care has "weighted down our economy and our conscience long enough," Obama said. "So let there be no doubt -- health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year," he said, prompting a standing ovation from members of Congress.

"President Obama has basically said that health care and the economy are inextricably linked and that fixing one is fixing the other," said Epperly. "To hear him say that again only redoubles my confidence that he is absolutely committed" to reform.

Epperly also said he's convinced that Obama recognizes the critical role primary care has to play in any major health care reform effort. In his address, the president said, for example, that his 2010 budget proposal "makes the largest investment ever in preventive care," adding that preventive care is one of the best ways to keep people healthy while reducing costs. Wellness and prevention are hallmarks of primary care and family medicine, said Epperly.

Moreover, Obama recently signed an economic recovery package -- known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, of 2009 -- which provides $300 million for the National Health Service Corps and $200 million for primary care and other health care professions trained through Titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act. By providing funding increases for these programs, Epperly said, the Obama administration has demonstrated its commitment to the education and training of primary care health professionals, while recognizing the need for them in any major health care reform initiative.

"The president is saying that, 'We believe in what you are doing and you have got to be part of the solution -- the country needs you,'" said Epperly.