Liveblog: Obama holds town hall meeting in Raleigh, N.C.-- Part 2

By GottaLaff

Q and A at Town Hall meeting in Raleigh, N. Carolina:

Q: How do you entice people to enter the field of medicine?
A: Great question. Family physician used to be the one you'd go to. But the economics of being a family dr. is a bad deal for a lot of med. students. Reimbursement rates are lower, as in Medicare... But surgeons get reimbursed for opening up someone's chest. The first part is probably more valuable as a whole, but not rewarded, so fewer go into that branch of medicine. When we pass health reform, and more people have access, we'll need more primary care physicians. We need to change How we reimburse... Insurance companies should reimburse for preventive care.

BREAKING: CNN just broke into meeting: POSSIBLE COMPROMISE... Good news for Prez. A deal between key Blue Dogs and House leaders... BILL INTO COMMITTEE BY WEEK'S END, BUT FULL HOUSE WON'T BRING UP REFORM TILL THE FALL. DETAILS PENDING, COSTS BROUGHT DOWN BY $100 BILLION. ... WAXMAN'S COMMITTEE...

Senate side: Negotiations continue. Chairman of Finance Committee says still working on it to bring down costs to under a trillion.

Back to Town Hall meeting:

Obama: We will not ration your care, scare tactics used. You've heard it's gonna cost a trillion dollars, and it scares everyone. That's less than we spent on War in Iraq, but still a lot of money. 2/3 of the cost paid for by money that's already in the system that's been wasted. $177 billion over 10 years spent on subsidies for Medicare Advantage. Nothing shows that works better for seniors. Take that out, that pays for millions of people's coverage. Already paid for by tax payers, but the news won't tell you that.

Small businesses would get a tax credit, reduces costs. 95% of small businesses would benefit for subsidies if they're already providing insurance for employees. If they're not, they can access a health care exchange to be part of a pool that can leverage lower prices. This is not something that is impossible to do... but we need to get over the skepticism that Wash. can't get it right.

I understand that. I ran because I was skeptical of Wash. [applause]

Q: Cost of prescription drugs?
A: We pay 77% more in America than any other country does. 77% more! Big Pharma says it's development... but that's only about 30%. It's about marketing, and what they can get away with. When the Prescrip. Drug Bill was passed, it prohibited Medicare from negotiating with drug co's. So, in this reform, we'll turn that around... To Big Pharma's credit, they're negotiating, put 80 billion $ of rebates/discounts on the table to help cut costs of Doughnut Hole in half. We can attain more savings.

Keep an eye on: Move to generics to lower costs. The drug co's want to keep patents for 12 yrs., we want to lower to 7 years.

Q: Most Americans for reform but afraid of change. What would the cost impact be to average person?
A: If you already have insurance, I can't guarantee immediately premiums cut in half, but costs will be lower than if we don't have reform. I can definitely guarantee, if you have insur., you won't be barred for preexisting conditions, you won't lose insurance if you change jobs, and you'll have more security than you do now. I can also say with some certainty that if we pass this, not only will millions w/o insurance get insur., but also easier for small bus. owners to get insurance for employees and selves. Buy thru health insurance exchange, get a better deal. Costs will NOT go up... may very well go down depending on kind of insurance you have now. And we won't ask you to change what you have.

Full disclosure: To cover everyone, we still have to pay for last 1/3 of program... 30 billion a year over 10 years. We could pay by reducing itemized deductions for those who make over $250000 a year, like myself. There are other suggestions we're debating. But middle class will not bear that burden. Average American: You gain significantly either way.

Q: Political question... Complaints about no time to read the plan. What difference does a couple of months take to let them read?

A: Politics: First, this bill even in best case scenario won't be signed, or voted on, till fall. We're just trying to get them out of committee. They can take the bill home over August recess, gives them plenty of time to read it. [applause] Next: We've debated this for 40 years now. We want to do this right, but some want to delay to kill the bill. The longer it takes, the more the special interests try to knock it down. We missed one deadline, but that's okay.

I've kept my promises since I took office... [applause] I will not sign a bill that's not deficit neutral, not paid for, that doesn't have all the reforms we need to lower inflation over long term, or isn't right. I'M FOR THE PUBLIC OPTION [applause] Congress will have time to read the bill and debate it. All of August to review all proposals. In Sept. I'll be available to answer questions, they can come over to the WH and go thru line by line, I'm happy to do that. America can't wait any longer, I want action this year, we'll make it happen.