President-elect Obama asks citizens to submit health care ideas

Dec 8th, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama has begun laying the groundwork for overhauling the troubled U.S. healthcare system, reaching out to interest groups and building grass-roots support for the huge undertaking. Obama, who takes office on January 20, is using many of the Internet tools employed in his election campaign to engage the public. His Internet site asks people to submit ideas for changing the costly and inefficient system that leaves tens of millions uninsured.

"Every American is feeling the pressure of high health costs and lack of quality care, and we feel it's important to engage them in the process of reform," said Obama transition team spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. "Change starts from the ground up, and we believe that's true on critical issues like healthcare reform as well."

Obama's coordinator on healthcare, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, planned to participate in a health care reform debate in Colorado on Friday, December 12, that was expected to begin detailing the plans for change. During the campaign, Obama pledged to bring health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans and spend about $50 billion to make U.S. health records electronic.

Many health reform advocates believe Obama will need broad public support to overhaul an industry that has become among the most intractable of U.S. political problems. Voters put healthcare reform as their third biggest concern after the economy and the Iraq war. Finding the money and ingenuity to fix the system will be difficult.

The United States now spends more on healthcare than any other developed nation, yet has some 47 million people without health insurance. Most insured people receive coverage through their employers but businesses complain that exploding costs threaten their competitiveness in a global market. High worker healthcare costs have been cited as a major reason why U.S. automakers, which are seeking $34 billion from the federal government, are in such trouble.

U.S. healthcare costs now account for about 16 percent of U.S. gross domestic product -- or $2.3 trillion -- a proportion projected to grow to 20 percent or $4 trillion by 2015.

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