Obama takes health agenda on road

WASHINGTON -- President Obama said Thursday that a health care overhaul will cost "money up front" when "we don't have a lot of extra money to spend," but he added that reform is crucial for the country's economic future.

Obama, speaking at a town hall meeting in Green Bay, Wis., said he won't allow reform to add to the deficit and talked about the "highest quality health care at the lowest possible cost."

The speech and following question-and-answer session are part of an aggressive push by the administration to tackle health care legislation this year.

"I will not accept endless delay or denial that reform needs to happen because when it comes to health care this country can't continue on its path," Obama said.

He told the audience that it will take a few years to implement every change in any legislation. But he said there are some things that can be done quickly.

Obama challenged critics of his proposed overhaul, asking: "What's the alternative?"

He has run into opposition from fellow Democrats in Congress and the nation's largest doctors' association, the American Medical Association.

"There's been disagreement, but there's an unprecedented coalition now to work together to cut health care spending," the president said.

Obama talked about insurance premiums that have doubled over the last nine years and have grown at a rate three times faster than wages have gone — a statistic he repeated again to the crowd.

The crisis has been even worse for small businesses, he said, which one month have to cut back on health care and the next month "have to lay off workers."

"We have the most expensive health care system in the world, bar none," Obama said. "We're not any healthier for it. We don't necessarily have better outcomes."

The president promised that with his health care overhaul "if you like your doctor you'll be able to keep your doctor, if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan."

"We're not going to make you change," he said.