Listen to Gov. Bredesen on Health Care Reform

Obama's final push for health care votes could falter in battle over abortion coverage
Washington — On the other side of the obstacle course that President Barack Obama must clear to get his Health Care overhaul, a final trapdoor is lurking: the divisive politics of Abortion. The issue pits House Democrats against each other just when Obama is calling on them to unite for one last push on Health Care in a perilous election year. The fate of the sweeping legislation to expand coverage and revamp the Health Insurance market hangs in the balance. House Democrats opposed to...

Paul Ryan's GOP budget plan -- smoke and mirrors, too?
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) took a dig at the Congressional Budget Office during the Health-care summit last week that didn't sit right with me. "I work with [the people at the CBO] every single day -- very good people, great professionals. They do their jobs well," Ryan said at Blair House . "But their job is to score what is placed in front of them. And what has been placed in front of them is a bill that is full of gimmicks and smoke-and-mirrors." The Wall Street Journal editorial page...

Dems Push Longer-Term Unemployment Benefits
A bill extending Unemployment Insurance and COBRA Health Insurance Benefits for 30 days was signed into law last night and congressional Democrats are now hoping to extend those Benefits through the end of this year. Amidst the chaos surrounding Sen. Jim Bunning’s [R, KY] Filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D, NV] and Sen. Max Baucus [D. MT] on Monday unveiled their bill to provide longer-term relief to the unemployed. Included as an amendment to an existing House bill...

The Antitrust Trap for Health Care Insurance
A day before the president's Health Care summit, the House passed an amendment to the McCarran-Ferguson Act seeking to "restore the application of the federal antitrust laws to the business of Health Insurance to protect competition and consumers." In effect, the amendment all but repeals The McCarran-Ferguson Act by adding the wording, "Nothing contained in this Act shall modify, impair, or supersede the operation of any of the antitrust laws with respect to the business of...

Obama on Health Care Reform: Full Remarks
Below is the text of President Obama's speech on Health Care, as prepared for delivery: Good afternoon. We began our push to reform Health Insurance last March with the doctors and nurses who know the system best, and so it is fitting to be joined by all of you as we bring this journey to a close. Last Thursday, I spent seven hours at a summit where Democrats and Republicans engaged in a public and substantive discussion about Health Care. This meeting capped off a debate that began with a...

Kaine On Obama's Health Care Announcement: 'The Final March For Reform Begins Today'
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine issued a statement after President Obama unveiled his plan for Health Care reform today. Here's the full text: "Today, the President outlined the way forward on Health Insurance reform and called on Congress to act with dispatch to pass historic and long overdue reforms to our country's Health Insurance system," said Kaine. "Almost a year has passed since this process began, marking another year that American families and businesses have...

Health Care Reform: Those "Irreconcilable Differences"
In an Editorial last Friday , USA Today discussed how the Health summit exposed "Irreconcilable Differences" between Democrats and Republicans on the issue of Health Care reform. It said in part: That at least makes it clear where reform goes from here. Obama and his party have three choices: They can give up and blame GOP intransigence. They can try to settle for the same sort of incremental changes made after President Clinton’s Health reform effort failed in 1994. Or they can try...

Obama On Health Care: 'I Look Forward To Signing This Reform Into Law'
The White House just released excerpts from the Health Care speech President Obama will deliver at 1:45 p.m. ET, when he's scheduled to unveil his final Health Care proposal. Here are the excerpts of his remarks, as prepared for delivery. "I don't believe we should give government bureaucrats or Insurance company bureaucrats more control over Health Care in America. I believe it's time to give the American people more control over their own Health Insurance. I don't believe we can afford to...

Obama's closing argument on health-care reform
"We began our push to reform Health Insurance last March with the doctors and nurses who know the system best," Barack Obama said today, "and so it is fitting to be joined by all of you as we bring this journey to a close." "Bring this journey to a close." Health-care reform seemed to have spun out of control in recent months. But it has settled in recent weeks. And the White House means to finish this process on its own terms. Obama's speech today was a reminder of how little has actually...

Peter Kinder blasts Nixon on children's health care
Kinder JEFFERSON CITY — During the 2008 gubernatorial campaign, Jay Nixon promised to sign up all eligibile children for

SC lawmakers rush to reduce corporate taxes while scrambling for funds to fix health care cuts
COLUMBIA, S.C. — As South Carolina legislators scrambled Thursday to come up with ways to spare Health Care programs from gut-wrenching Budget cuts, they rushed to approve huge breaks for businesses that include doing away with the state's corporate Income Tax. The breaks, including phasing out the state's corporate Income Tax, won key approval with a 105-9 vote over the objections of a handful of Democrats and will get routine final approval Friday before being sent to the Senate. The...

Justice Officials Push for Expansion of Health Care Strike Forces
With Congress shifting its attention to the fiscal 2011 Budget, Justice Department officials on Thursday made a case for more resources to tamp down on Health Care fraud. In separate congressional hearings, acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler and acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Greg Andres of the Criminal Division, touted the Department’s efforts, both citing an impressive statistic: For every $1 spent on enforcement since 1996, $4 were returned to the Medicare trust...

Obama on Moving Health Insurance Reform Forward
Yesterday, President Obama wrote to Congressional leaders to summarize last week's summit, and to reiterate the Republican ideas that are already in the package, and those he thought were worth "exploring further." He followed up today with his statement on Health Insurance reform and the way forward, which he makes clear is Reconciliation. From his prepared remarks (via e-mail): "I don’t believe we should give government bureaucrats or Insurance company bureaucrats more control over...

Obama to make health-care speech during in visit to St. Louis next week.
Washington — While in St. Louis for a fundraiser on March 10, President Barack Obama also will make a Public Policy speech dealing with — you guessed it — Health-care reform. That’s the word from White House sources; an announcement is expected shortly. Obama is announcing a plan this afternoon that is expected to deploy the rarely used tactic of Reconciliation enabling enable passage of Democratic-drawn Health Insurance overhaul with a simple majority in the...

President Obama to Discuss Health Insurance Reform in Pennsylvania and Missouri Next Week
The White House announced today that President Obama will travel to the Philadelphia and St. Louis metropolitan areas next week to discuss Health Insurance reform.  He will head to the Philadelphia area on Monday, March 8 and to the St. Louis area on Wednesday, March 10. More details including press credentialing information will be released in the coming days. 

Open Thread: President Obama's Health Care Plan
Please discuss as the President announces his final plan for Health-care reform. Some excerpts, sent in advance: "I don't believe we should give government bureaucrats or Insurance company bureaucrats more control over Health Care in America. I believe it's time to give the American people more control over their own Health Insurance. I don't believe we can afford to leave life-and-death decisions about Health Care to the discretion of Insurance company executives alone. I believe...

Excerpts From the President's Remarks on Health Insurance Reform Today
Excerpts from President Obama's upcoming speech today via the White House: “I don’t believe we should give government bureaucrats or Insurance company bureaucrats more control over Health Care in America. I believe it’s time to give the American people more control over their own Health Insurance. I don’t believe we can afford to leave life-and-death decisions about Health Care to the discretion of Insurance company executives alone. I believe that doctors and nurses...

Watch Live This Afternoon: President Obama on Moving Forward with Health Reform
At 1:45 p.m. Eastern Time today, President Obama will present his final plan for Health reform and call on Congress to move forward swiftly with a vote on Health Insurance reform legislation. The President will speak about why reform is so crucial, and why a comprehensive approach to reform is necessary to truly reduce premiums and end Discrimination against people with Pre-existing Conditions. You can watch live at WhiteHouse.gov/live . Stay tuned for more on the President's announcement...

Breaking: Obama Wednesday Health Care Deets
Tomorrow afternoon at the White House, the President will deliver remarks about moving forward into the final stage of the Health Insurance reform debate. He'll reiterate why reform is so crucial and what it will mean for American families and businesses: they'll have more control over their own Health Care, they'll see lower costs , and they'll see an end to Insurance company abuses. He'll note that his proposal includes the best ideas from both parties, and he'll restate his...

| Proposed Health Care ‘Excise Tax’ a Tax on the Middle Class
The Senate Finance Committee’s 40 percent Excise Tax on so-called “Cadillac” Health Care plans would hit 37 percent of family Health Insurance plans and 41 percent of single plans by 2019, according to an analysis of the committee’s original Health Care reform bill conducted by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT). By 2015, according to this analysis, the Excise Tax would slam 24 million households, growing to 39 million households by 2019.

Letter to Congressional Leaders on Health Insurance Reform
Please find below a letter from President Obama to Congressional leaders on moving forward with Health Insurance reform legislation. View the letter as a PDF. March 2, 2010      Dear Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, Senator McConnell, and Representative Boehner: Thank you again for the time, energy, and preparation you invested in last Thursday’s bipartisan meeting on Health Insurance reform. I have always believed that our legislative process works best when both...

Daily Health Care News - 3/3/10
NEWS Lawmakers expand investigation into Health Insurance rate hikes - LA Times The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has summoned the chiefs of WellPoint, UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna to testify about denying claims for policyholders with preexisting Conditions. President Obama looking for up-or-down vote - Politico Republicans rebuffed President Barack Obama's eleventh-hour bid for bipartisan support on Health reform Tuesday, guaranteeing that the White House must resort to...

Excerpts from the President's Remarks on Health Insurance Reform Today
Please find below excerpts from President Obama’s remarks this afternoon as prepared for delivery: “I don’t believe we should give government bureaucrats or Insurance company bureaucrats more control over Health Care in America.  I believe it’s time to give the American people more control over their own Health Insurance.  I don’t believe we can afford to leave life-and-death decisions about Health Care to the discretion of Insurance company executives...

Excerpts from Obama's Health-Care Speech -- By: Daniel Foster
The White House has released the following excerpts from the remarks on Health-care President Obama is expected to deliver in just under an hour. Emphasis added, but I held back on inserting exclamation points and ironic quotes. For Immediate Release March 3, 2010 EXCERPTS FROM THE PRESIDENT'S REMARKS ON Health Insurance REFORM TODAY Please find below excerpts from President Obama's remarks this afternoon as prepared for delivery: "I don't believe we should give government bureaucrats or...