President Obama tells Catholics: We are in this together concerning Obamacare

Speaking at the Catholic Health Association’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, President Obama told those in attendance that "we are in this together concerning Obamacare.

“Are we a country that says health care is a commodity available to the highest bidder, or is it a fundamental right? The rugged individualism that defines America has always been bound by a set of shared values, an enduring sense that we are in this together.

“That America is not a place where we simply ignore the poor or turn away from the sick. It’s a place sustained by the idea that I am my brother’s keeper and I am my sister’s keeper. That we have an obligation to put ourselves in our neighbor’s shoes, and to see the common humanity in each other.

“We are not going to go backwards. There is something deeply cynical about the attempts to roll back progress. Once you see millions of people have health care, once you see all the bad things didn’t happen, let’s move on. It seems so cynical to take health care away from millions of people.

”We have to protect the coverage and sign more people up. We need more governors to expand Medicaid which was part of the overall plan.

“Then there are the outcomes that are harder to calculate – yes, in the tally of pain and tragedy and bankruptcies that have been averted, but also in the security of a parent who can afford to take her kid to the doctor. The dignity of a grandfather who can get the preventive care he needs. The freedom of an entrepreneur who can start a new venture. The joy of a wife who thought she’d never again take her husband’s hand and go for a walk in God’s creation.

“This wasn’t easy. There were those who thought health reform was too politically risky.

“For every politician and pundit who said why rush, I hear from working Americans who said they didn’t have a moment to wait,” President Obama said.