Obama, business leaders discuss health costs

updated 2:01 p.m. ET May 12, 2009

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is calling on corporate leaders to talk about the programs they're using to trim health care costs within their businesses.

Obama met Tuesday with representatives of five companies, the hotel and restaurant employees union and Ohio's health department. He said what these companies are doing will be part of the broader conversation about reducing costs nationwide.

The president said if companies can take these steps there's no reason the country can't follow, too. Obama added that there's no "quick fix" to the problem of health care costs.

"So what we've done here today is to gather together some of these stories and best practices to make sure that they are going to be informing the health care reform discussions that take place here in Washington," said Obama.

"All this designed to save taxpayers money, save businesses money and ultimately make the American people healthier and happier and make sure that we're getting a better bang for our health care dollar," he added.

The White House session followed Obama's Monday announcement that health industry leaders have promised to slow the growth of medical care costs.

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