Health Care by The Numbers

Here's the latest bulletin from The White House:

32,000,000 -- that's the number of Americans who will get health insurance under the President's plan.

That's also a little more than the entire populations of Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona -- COMBINED.

For the past couple weeks, we've been using key numbers to help raise awareness about how we just can't wait any longer for health insurance reform. We used $1,115 to tell the story of how skyrocketing premiums are crippling America's workers. We used 8 to convey how widespread and severe discrimination for pre-existing conditions is across the health insurance industry. And we used numbers like 625 and 50/50 to clearly show that any one of us is at risk of losing insurance in our broken health care system.

Today -- in our last number of the series -- we're using 32,000,000 to represent not only all those who will get health care, but also all the numerous benefits America's families and small businesses will see from health insurance reform. From eliminating discrimination based on pre-existing conditions to controlling costs and lowering the national deficit to providing tax credits for middle class families and small businesses, health insurance reform will finally put America's families and small businesses in control over their own health care.

Watch our new 'Health Reform by the Numbers' wrap-up video and learn more about what you have to gain from reform: (go to White House.gov)

32,000,000 is the last number in ‘Health Reform by the Numbers,' our online campaign to raise awareness about why the time is now for health insurance reform. Help spread the word by sharing this message with your family, friends and online networks. Call Rep. Shuster and our Senators Casey and Specter.

President Obama -- Educator

Our President has been working nonstop to educate and activate the American people. He wants us to hear his position on the budget, education, health care, energy and jobs. We may not always agree 100 percent, but it sure is wonderful to have a president that is knowledgeable, clear in his language and ideas and able to communicate with the people. You can listen to the internet town hall meeting by going to the White House web site.

SC 8th Grade Student to Sit with First Lady

Ty'Sheoma Bethea, an eighth-grade student at J.V. Martin Junior High School in Dillon, S.C., will sit with President Barack Obama's family Tuesday night when he delivers his first address to Congress. Ty'Sheoma was invited to sit in first lady Michelle Obama's mezzanine box in the House of Representatives, thanks to her letter imploring lawmakers to help her crumbling school, which was built in 1896. Ty'Sheoma's letter made its way to Obama, who campaigned at J.V. Martin in 2007.

Obama cited J.V. Martin two weeks ago in his first presidential news conference as a symbol of decaying schools that would be replaced by funds in his economic stimulus plan. "The president and first lady were moved by Ty'Sheoma's heartfelt letter and are looking forward to welcoming her to D.C.," said a White House spokeswoman. She walked to the Dillon town library to write her letter because her family doesn't have a computer.

"People are starting to see my school as a hopeless, uneducated school, which we are not," she wrote. "We finally want to prove to the world that we have a chance in life just like other schools, and we can feel good about what we are doing, because of the conditions we are in now we can not succeed in anything."