Obama at AARP health care forum: ‘We’ve got to get a better bang for our health care dollar’

Obama: Existing health system threatens Medicare

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is telling participants in an online forum on health care that the current system and its skyrocketing costs are a threat to Medicare.

Obama says the Medicare trust fund will be in the red and out of money in a decade unless Washington overhauls the system.

Both houses of Congress are grappling with the issue. In opening remarks to the AARP-sponsored forum, Obama said some of the money that’s being spent and doesn’t improve people’s health could be used to bring down costs.

He said: “We’ve got to get a better bang for our health care dollar.”

AARP is an advocacy group for people over the age of 50.