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The health insurance reform proposal President Obama released this morning (Monday, February 22, 2010) builds on the work done by Congress over the past year, putting forward a plan that lowers costs, guarantees choice, and enhances quality health care for all Americans. Using the Senate bill as a starting point, the President's proposal bridges the differences between the Senate and House-passed bills, while incorporating additional ideas from Republican members of Congress.

Here are some of the key elements of the President's proposal:
  • It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today. This helps over 31 million Americans afford health care who do not get it today and makes coverage more affordable for many more.
  • It sets up a new competitive health insurance market giving tens of millions of Americans the exact same insurance choices that members of Congress will have.
  • It brings greater accountability to health care by laying out commonsense rules of the road to keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care.
  • It will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.
  • It puts our budget and economy on a more stable path by reducing the deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years and about $1 trillion over the second decade by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse.
Additionally, the President's proposal includes a new measure that allows the government to put a stop to unreasonable and unfair premium rate increases.

You can read the full proposal at WhiteHouse.gov.
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