Obama chides healthcare reform naysayers

WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama Wednesday repeated his call to lawmakers to pass reforms to the U.S. healthcare system now instead of maintaining the status quo.

"(Those) who would oppose our efforts should take a hard look at just what it is they're defending," Obama said in remarks delivered in the White House Rose Garden. "Over the last decade, health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages. Deductibles and out-of-pocket costs are skyrocketing."

Obama also praised the work in the House and Senate to push forward healthcare reform, a key plank of his domestic agenda.

"Both proposals will take what's best about our system today and make it the basis of our system tomorrow -- reducing costs, raising quality and ensuring fair treatment of consumers by the insurance industry," Obama said of a proposal introduced in the House and legislation passed by a Senate committee.

Both measures include a health insurance exchange proposal, which would allow health coverage comparisons by individuals and businesses, and have a public health coverage option "that would make healthcare more affordable by increasing competition, providing more choices and keeping insurance companies honest," he said.

Congressional progress on reform "should make us hopeful, but it shouldn't make us complacent," Obama said, flanked by members of Congress and by several nurses. "It should instead provide the urgency for both the House and the Senate to finish their critical work on health reform before the August recess."

The Senate health committee Wednesday passed on a party line vote its $600 billion version of healthcare reform legislation, which doesn't include a surtax on the nation's richest taxpayers sought by the House legislation to pay for changes. The Senate Finance Committee still is marking up its version.

Noting that a number of health-related constituencies are on board for healthcare reform, Obama said, "It's up to us now."