The White House Blog

The Greatest Joy

Ed Note: Watch an Evening of Classical Music live at 7:00 PM EST on WhiteHouse.gov/live or watch and discuss it with other classical music fans on Facebook.

The greatest joy that this job affords – and there are many – is the chance to throw open the doors and invite Americans into the White House and expose them to the talents of their fellow Americans. One of the ways that the First Lady has been doing is this is through the White House Music Series. This series was conceived as a way to celebrate the arts, demonstrate the importance of arts education and encourage young people who believe in their talent to create a future for themselves in the arts community be it as a hobby or as a profession.

We kicked off the series by celebrating the uniquely American art form of jazz. Our next event in the series was the day-long celebration of country music, followed by our Fiesta Latina, which showcased Hispanic musical heritage. Through student workshops and evening concerts, each event enlivens the White House with the sounds of music from dawn till dusk.

Music’s ability to inspire has never been more visible to me than during these events. When I see young students play with the masters of their craft, when two musicians jam together for the first time and manage to perfectly complement each other, when young and old learn from each other – that’s when true harmony happens.

So I hope you’ll join us today for the Classical Music Concert and watch our latest installment of the White House Music Series. The performance will feature the best and brightest of their fields: violinist Joshua Bell, classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, pianist Awadagin Pratt and Alisa Weilerstein on the cello. These acclaimed artists will be performing solo and together playing music by Bach, Ravel, Paganini, and Mendelssohn among others. It’s a performance not to be missed and I do hope you’ll join us at www.WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Desirée Rogers is the White House Social Secretary.

Word from the White House: House Republican Health Care "Plan" Putting Families at Risk

It's no secret that institutions of all stripes focus their communications on certain messages day to day. We thought it would all be a little more open and transparent if we went ahead and published what our focus will be for the day, along with any related articles, documents, or reports.  Today we publish our second batch.

Supporting article: "Republicans want to make the insurance industry more like the credit card industry," Ezra Klein, Washington Post, 11/3/09

Supporting article: "Boehner's Health Care Bill At Odds With Pre-Existing GOP Positions," Huffington Post, 11/3/09

Talking Points: House Republican Health Care "Plan": Putting Families at Risk  

• After months of offering nothing but obstruction and roadblocks, House Republicans have now put together a hastily-constructed, last-minute "plan" for health reform. But the reality is that their plan would put families at risk by giving insurance companies more power to discriminate against patients while accumulating record profits.
• The bottom line is that under the House Republican plan, millions of Americans would lose the coverage and security they currently have.
• There is a lot of empty GOP rhetoric out there about this plan, so let's look at the reality of what they’re offering American families:

RHETORIC: The House Republican health care plan expands coverage to those who cannot get insurance now.

REALITY: The Republicans' bill leaves affordable health insurance out of reach for millions of Americans. 

No Elimination of Discrimination Based on Pre-existing Conditions: Nowhere does the bill make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. As a result, consumers will never be fully protected and guaranteed coverage options.

High-Risk Pools Will Not Provide Americans with Access to Affordable Coverage: The Republican bill states that it improves access through high-risk pools, but according to the bill, those states that currently do not have high-risk pools never need to develop them, and those states that have high-risk pools could close them.

Democrats Ensure No American Remains Uninsured Due to A Pre-existing Condition As a Bridge to REAL Health Insurance Reform. The President and House Democrats support affordable access to a high-risk pool nationwide for individuals with pre-existing conditions as a bridge to real insurance reform in 2013.

RHETORIC: The House Republican health care "plan" lets families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.

REALITY: Unlike the House Leadership bill, the Republicans' bill takes us backwards rather than forwards. 

In the Absence of Insurance Reform, This Policy will Undermine Patients' Protections: This proposal, which would allow insurance to be sold across state lines in the absence of any broader reforms to prevent discrimination in the individual marketplace, would undermine patients’ protections and drive up premiums. Under this policy, states would have a further incentive to gut consumer protections, which would create a devastating race to the bottom.

Insurers Can "Cherry Pick" Healthy Individuals: Without any additional protections, insurers would be allowed to cherry pick healthy enrollees by marketing strategies, benefit design, and targeting those states with the least consumer protections. That would drive up premiums for everyone else trying to buy insurance in the state.

RHETORIC: The House Republicans' bill allows individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together to acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do today.

REALITY: So-called "Association Health Plans" will reduce choices for small businesses and leave consumers vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

Association Health Plans are Exempt from State Consumer Protections: Association Health Plans (AHPs) allow small businesses from different states to pool together to buy health insurance that is exempt from consumer protections secured by many state laws. They undermine states’ comprehensive tools to prevent, identify and shut down fraudulent plans.

AHPs Allow Insurers to Cherry Pick Healthy Workers: By avoiding state consumer protections, AHPs make it easier for insurance companies to "cherry pick" healthy individuals and firms, leaving out those who are older or sicker, raising premiums for everyone else.

RHETORIC: The House Republican bill gives states the incentives through bonus payments to create their own reforms that lower health care costs and increase coverage.

REALITY: The Republican bill provides neither the means for cost containment nor the support that states need to get at cost drivers and increase the affordability of health care. It includes: 

NO policies to promote quality health care and efficiency of health care in private or public health insurance.
NO premium assistance for middle-income families that struggle to pay for health insurance.
NO increased support or options for states to build the platforms to improve the delivery system.

RHETORIC: The House Republican bill ends junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs.

REALITY: The Republican bill offers new no ideas. The bill caps the amount of damages a person injured can receive and will preempt state consumer protection laws.

President Obama and House Democrats support a range of ideas on how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine. That’s why President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum on September 17th directing the HHS Secretary to move forward with an initiative to give states and health systems the opportunity to apply for medical liability demonstration projects. House Democrats have also included a voluntary state incentive grants program in their bill to encourage states to develop alternatives to traditional malpractice litigation. 

Streaming Live at 1:00 on Flu.gov: Vaccination Clinics and Vaccine Availability

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Know What to Do About the Flu Webcast series continues today with a live discussion at 1 pm on flu vaccination clinics and vaccine availability.  Watch as experts panelists discuss what to expect at H1N1 vaccination clinics and hear personal stories from Americans on why they chose to be vaccinated.  Participating in today’s webinar:

• Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Dr. Gloria Addo Ayensu, MD, MPH, Director of the Fairfax County Department of Health, Fairfax, Virginia
• Dr. Pierre Vigilance, Director, District of Columbia Department of Health, Washington, DC

Viewers can also join the discussion by sending questions via email to hhsstudio@hhs.gov, a selection of which will be read live during the event.  For more information about H1N1 and seasonal flu, visit Flu.gov, the one-stop resource for flu information.

Word from the White House: Objective Analysis Shows Reform will Help Small Businesses, Lower Premiums for American Families

It's no secret that institutions of all stripes focus their communications on certain messages day to day. We thought it would all be a little more open and transparent if we went ahead and published what our focus will be for the day, along with any related articles, documents, or reports.

Supporting article: "Massachusetts provides evidence that health-care reform lowers insurance premiums," Washington Post, 11/2/09

Supporting testimony: "Testimony Before the Senate HELP Committee on Health Reform and Small Businesses," Jonathan Gruber, 11/2/09 (pdf)

Supporting report: "The Economic Effects of Health Care Reform on Small Businesses and Their Employees," Council of Economic Advisers, 7/25/09

Talking Points: Objective Analysis Shows Reform will Help Small Businesses, Lower Premiums for American Families

Lowering Premiums For American Individuals and Families

• MIT economist Jonathan Gruber has a new report out showing that reform will lower premiums for Americans purchasing insurance on their own.
• Analyzing the non-partisan information from the CBO, Gruber reports that under the House version of health insurance reform legislation, a typical individual could save anywhere from nearly $500 to more than $3,000 and a typical family could save between $1,260 and more than $9,000.
• Those savings, he notes, come in addition to the more generous benefits consumers would receive by purchasing insurance through the newly created exchange.
• And it’s also in addition to increased protections – like banning insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions or dropping or watering down coverage when you get sick and need it most.
• "Not only does the House proposal lower premiums, it does so while also improving coverage," Gruber writes.

Helping Small Businesses

• Yesterday, Gruber also testified before the Senate HELP Committee that small businesses are disproportionately hurt by the health care status quo and that health insurance reform will lower premiums and save jobs in the small business sector.
  • “Small business has little to fear, and much to gain, from health reform,” Gruber concluded.
     
• Gruber testified that health insurance reform would break down many of the barriers currently facing small businesses – like unpredictable  premiums jumps, fear of starting new businesses for lack of affordable insurance options, and higher costs and limited choices due to administrative expenses and lack of bargaining power.
  • He also cited the tax credits that would help small businesses who need it most pay for insurance.
     
• Based on those factors, he unveiled a new analysis showing that health insurance reform will save small businesses 25% – or $65 billion per year – over the next decade.
• The consequences of those savings, he says, would be enormous.
  • Workers in small businesses will see an increase in their take-home pay of almost $30 billion/year.
  • And that reform would save about 80,000 jobs in the small business sector by 2019.
     
• Gruber also knocked down the myth that health insurance reform will raise costs for small businesses.  "Objective CBO analysis,” he pointed out,  “shows that these claims are clearly wrong – reform will lower, not increase, non-group insurance costs."