dr. jeremy lazurus. thanks to all of you for bringing me home, even if it is just for a day. you know, from the moment i took office as president, this central challenge we've confronted as a nation has been the need to lift ourselves out of the worst recession since world war ii. and in recent months we've sake taken a series of extraordinary steps not just to repair the immediate damage to our economy but to build a new foundation for lasting and sustained growth. we're here to create new jobs. to unfreeze our credit markets. we're stemming the loss of homes and the decline of home balance. all this is is important. but even as we've made progress, we know that the road to pros parity remains long and remains difficult. and we also know that one essential step on our journey is to control the spiraling costs of health care in america and in order to do that, we're going to need the help of the a.m.a. [applause] today we are spending over $2 trillion a year on health care. almost 50% more per person than the next most costly nation. and yet, as i think many of you are aware,