U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday held a town-hall style meeting in Virginia, as part of his ongoing effort to stress the importance of a major health care overhaul. The town-hall, which was held in Annandale, Virginia, a city right outside of Washington, DC, was focused on gaining the support of the American people with regard to health care reform. Speaking to an audience made up of members of the general public, and fielding questions that were posed in an online forum, Obama stressed the United States' long-term health care needs, with a greater emphasis on preventive care and “cost-effective care.” Obama said the best way to drive down health care costs, which he pins as one of the key challenges to America's already embattled economy, is to persuade doctors and hospitals to emphasize quality of care over the quantity of procedures. “The biggest thing we can do to hold down costs is to change the incentives of a health care system that automatically equates expensive care with better care,” Obama said, adding that such a system drives up costs “but doesn't make you better.” Obama said a government-run “single-payer” health care system works well in some countries. But, he said that the highly-contested system is not appropriate in the United States because so many people get insurance through their employers working with private companies. Obama also again called for a government-run “public option” to compete with private insurers, a plan that many Republican lawmakers oppose. Obama said the public option would provide “competition and choice” and “keep insurers honest.” Congress will return to debating health care when it returns Monday from a one-week recess. Obama's agenda calls for reducing delivery costs even as insurance coverage is extended to virtually all Americans. Obama also worked to reassure his many Republican adversaries that the U.S. government will not borrow money to carry out the plans.
