Obama: Progress seen on healthcare reform

ANNANDALE, Va., July 1 (UPI) -- Progress is being made in identifying ways to make the U.S. healthcare system more efficient, but more work must be done, President Obama said Wednesday.

In remarks opening a town hall meeting in Annandale, Va., the president restated his goals for healthcare reform -- making health coverage affordable and accessible to all Americans -- and repeated his commitment to enact legislation this year.

"I don't accept the status quo and you shouldn't either," Obama told the audience at Northern Virginia Community College.

"We're starting to make progress on Capitol Hill identifying ways to not only make the system smarter, efficient and more user-friendly," he said. "but also ways to pay for it so it doesn't bloat our deficit."

Obama said tackling healthcare reform was necessary to help pull the U.S. economy out of its recession.

"If we let this moment pass, we could see this economy sputter along for decades ... into decline," Obama said. "This is a problem we can't wait to fix."

He repeated his pledge that if people are satisfied with their coverage, they can keep their plan. But if they're dissatisfied or can't afford coverage, a public option also must be available.

"We have to preserve what's best," he said. "But we also have to fix what's broken and that means permanently bringing down costs for everyone."

To keep reform deficit neutral, Obama said about two-thirds of the funding would come from reallocating money already in the system "but isn't being spent wisely." The remaining third would be achieved by raising revenue, primarily by capping tax deductions for the wealthiest taxpayers.

"We are at a rare moment when we have been given the opportunity to remake our world," Obama said before opening up the session to questions. "We just can't be scared."