The president has a powerful story to tell the country about the importance of health security to America’s middle class and why we have to stop the Republican assault on Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA is an extraordinary accomplishment and is already making a huge difference in people’s lives by making health care more affordable for families and businesses and providing cost-saving benefits and protections for consumers. Along with Social Security, these bedrock programs make our people healthier and our society more just. They are key to everyone in this country having a fair shot at achieving the American Dream.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama can use plenty of examples. Thanks to the ACA, 2.5 million young adults were able to obtain health coverage this past year. The worst practices of big insurance companies, including denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, are now against the law. Health care is becoming more affordable for small businesses and seniors on Medicare. When fully implemented the law will provide tens of millions of Americans the same range of coverage choices as members of Congress. People will have peace of mind that they will always be able to afford good coverage – even if they lose a job, start a small business or retire early. These are powerful themes the President could discuss, and polling has repeatedly shown that they are highly valued by the American people despite relentless attacks on the law by the Republicans.

The president could use the speech to remind the nation that Medicare and Medicaid are the cornerstones of our health care system and are needed to preserve and expand the middle class. We don’t want a society that leaves everyone to fend for themselves when they fall ill. Only if everyone has affordable health care can we have a vibrant middle class to power the world’s leading economy.

The stakes are huge. If the Republicans get their way and turn Medicaid into a so-called block grant, millions of seniors would be thrown out of nursing homes. Middle class families would be slammed with crushing health care costs for their parents while struggling to make ends meet, save for their own retirement and send kids to college. Children and people with disabilities will go without needed care. Huge costs will be shifted to state governments, jobs will be lost and the economy will be hurt. President Obama could help Americans understand this.

The Republicans want to eliminate Medicare as we know it and send our parents and grandparents into bankruptcy. Their plan would transform guaranteed health care benefits for seniors into a voucher scheme that would send hundreds of billions of dollars directly to private insurance companies. Retirees would be forced to pay two to three times more out of their pockets to care for themselves, and it would fall to adult children and extended families to bankroll the difference – whether they can afford to or not.

Every Republican plan to ‘reform’ Medicare or Medicaid is just another way to shift health costs to seniors who cannot afford to pay more. Were the Republicans to succeed in repealing the ACA, the truth is they have nothing to replace it with.

Lots of work remains to be done, but when it comes to health care the State of the Union is strong. President Obama is fortunate to have a Health and Human Services Department that’s doing a solid job implementing the ACA and protecting the pillars of the U.S. health care system. We must stand strong to fight off the GOP’s hyper-partisan attacks on health laws that are making the country a healthier, fairer place.

President Obama’s State of the Union speech provides an opportunity to discuss many of the priorities for the 2012 election, but more important than the frame of our political debate are the core issues that voters are most concerned about – jobs and the economy. These top priorities for all Americans have not changed since the last election. So it is a safe bet that these macro-issues will be the President’s central theme. But what is more interesting is what the President will actually propose to help improve the economic and jobs landscape in the U.S. We in the biopharmaceutical sector are particularly interested since innovative industries such as ours are job-creators and tremendous contributors to our nation’s economic growth.

As we all know, innovation and economic growth go hand-in-hand. For this reason, it is my hope that the President also spends significant time talking about the value of innovation. But this year, it is critical that he delve deeper into this topic and cast a wider net. We are very interested in hearing specific policy proposals on how we can ensure that America remains the world-leader in innovation, particularly medical innovation. President Obama should use this opportunity to propose ideas that will foster medical innovation in the long-term rather than focusing on short-term policies that do not encourage, and in some cases may detract from, future medical progress.

At a time when our economy is still fragile, it is essential that government and industry work together to help create jobs and improve the economic outlook – and a sound innovation agenda is critical to meet these important goals.

Four inter-connected policy pillars that I believe are important to sustain the economic and scientific eco-system, advance medical innovation and protect U.S.-based biopharmaceutical jobs are the following:

o A regulatory framework to spur innovation – meaning a predictable, consistent and robust regulatory system supported by the best, experienced regulators using the latest, best science;

o A thriving public/private scientific ecosystem – meaning better collaboration and cooperation;

o A business environment that embraces biomedical progress – meaning an understanding that the science, while potentially amazing, is difficult, the investment costs high and the rewards are uncertain;

o A healthcare system that better recognizes the value of medicines – meaning innovative medicines contribute both to improving patient health and can help control short- and long-term healthcare costs.

Whether you agree with the President or not, health reform is one of the most important issues facing our country and the President should absolutely defend this accomplishment in his speech and use this chance to make a pitch in front of the SCOTUS.

In fact, if I were the President’s speechwriter, his remarks concerning health care would look something like this:

“As we begin implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, it’s important to remind the American people that we have guaranteed that no one will be rejected for health insurance, even if they have, what the insurance industry liked to call ‘pre-existing conditions’. Through this plan, we are making healthcare more accessible and affordable through insurance exchanges and accountable care organizations that ensure physicians are working together to provide patients quality care and not worrying about how many tests they should run. We also closed the so-called ‘donut hole’ under Medicare Part D to lower the cost of prescriptions for seniors.

“It’s also important to note while a substantial improvement, the ACA is not perfect. I will work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, to make sure this landmark legislation doesn’t stifle job creation and innovation. One provision that deserves scrutiny is Section 6002, better known as the Physician Payment Sunshine Act.

“This provision was not part of my original health care reform proposal and, ironically, it was slipped into the health reform bill without full and thoughtful consideration.

“Let me read you some actual language from the proposed regulation. You won’t believe this:

“For example, if once during the calendar year, a sales representative from an applicable manufacturer brings $25 worth of bagels and coffee to a solo physician's office for a morning meeting, regardless of the number of individuals who partake, the per covered recipient cost is $25. Since this falls above the $10 minimum threshold for reporting a payment or other transfer of value…this meal must be reported. However, if the practice group includes five physicians, then the per-covered recipient cost is $5 (regardless of whether all five physicians actually consumed any of the food provided), so the payment would not need to be reported.”

“I am not making this up… this provision does nothing to increase access to care or improve outcomes – two things that inspired me to work so hard on health reform. Rather, it’s indicative of the government overreach that has left so many Americans frustrated. We should not – and, if I have anything to do with it, we will not – have government bureaucrats counting bagels!

“So I say let’s work together to continue to reform the health care delivery system so our energy is focused on ways to increase access, lower costs and make Americans healthy.”