John Rother Video: Health Care for All Generations

Changes to the current health-care system would mean better, less expensive care for everyone.

Source: AARP.org | 2009-08-28

Health reform will help all generations of Americans, saving money and improving care for all ages. Medicare would be a stronger program, with less waste, an improved drug benefit, and better coordination among doctors.

 

Reform would also help contain costs for everybody by combating waste and fraud. And it would rely on a balanced public/private approach to protect consumers while encouraging innovation.

 

Here is a transcript of Rother's comments:

 

Recent rumors and allegations have confused a lot of people about health-care reform.    

This is a real shame, because all generations will gain with a better health-care system.

Hello I'm John Rother of AARP, and I'd like to offer some straight talk about health care.

After all, what could be more important to you and your family than health care?

I’ve read every word of the proposals before Congress.

And I’m convinced that health reform would build on the best of what we already have.

This includes your right to keep your doctor and make health decisions free of outside interference.    

But benefits go much further.  Health care reform would help people of ALL ages.

Older Americans, working families, and young people just starting out.

It would help future generations.

We’re talking about saving money AND improving care. Here are some facts:

• Medicare would be a stronger program. It would have less waste, an improved drug benefit and better coordination between doctors.
• Working families would be winners, because they would have guaranteed, affordable coverage, no matter what happens.
• Young people would have a long-term financial benefit, because the system will do a better job of containing costs.

If you think health care is expensive now, just imagine what will happen if we let these trends continue.

All these are common-sense goals.

Insurance companies shouldn’t be able to pick and choose who they protect.

They shouldn’t be able to reject you just because you get sick – or may one day.

They shouldn’t be able to gouge you because you’re getting older.

Health care reform also makes good financial sense.

It would target waste and fraud that drives up costs for all of us.

We pay a great personal price for this waste.

Reform is about preventing illness in the first place and avoiding medical mistakes.

These smart savings are good news for seniors.

When the hospital sends you home, you should never have to rush back.

Finally, health reform relies on a balanced, public-private approach to protect consumers and reward innovation.

It preserves a dynamic private sector and gives us more value for all that spending.

Health reform would help preserve the American dream.

People of all generations have a stake in fixing the health care system.