Obama fires up students for healthcare

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Healthcare reform isn't about insurance policies but about what the United States is as a country, President Obama said at the University of Maryland.

Healthcare reform "is about what kind of country you want it (the United States) to be," Obama told an appreciative crowd Thursday on the College Park, Md., campus. It is not about "details in a policy."

In the campaign-style rally, Obama repeated elements of his speech to a joint session of Congress last week, outlining healthcare reform plans working their way through Congress.

Under his proposal, Obama said, young people included on their parents' insurance could remain on those plans until age 26.

He also said his plan young people without insurance would gain access to coverage to ensure they do not stack more debt on top of student loans because they get sick.

Obama also announced, in a nod to Republicans' desire for medical malpractice reform, he has directed the Department of Health and Human Services to award demonstration grants to states and healthcare systems for programs "that put patient safety first, while allowing doctors to practice medicine instead of defending against lawsuits."

Harkening back to his campaign rallying cries of "Fired up" and "Ready to go," Obama said he needed young people's help because "change is hard" and opponents will work to maintain the status quo.

Change, he said, "begins right here in College Park and campuses like this one. It always has."

"It starts with people," Obama said, "who are determined to take this nation's destiny into their own hands."