GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., Aug. 16 (UPI) -- President Obama took his healthcare-reform message to a town known for low-cost care:
Grand Junction, Colo.
At a town hall meeting there Saturday, the president praised Grand Junction, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and other places that provide medical treatment for below-average cost. He also pushed containing healthcare costs as a key to the future health of the United States.
Without reform, he said: "The deficit will continue to grow because most of it is Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare will go into the red in less than a decade. And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against people just because they're sick."
Obama also said there is "no perfect, painless silver bullet out there" for a system where patients, doctors, hospitals and insurers will all get everything they want. He said the best he can do is describe the choices that have to be made.
Obama is on a short western trip that includes visits to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon with his wife and daughters as well as a town hall in Belgrade, Mont.
