NEWS

For Health Insurers’ Lobbyist, Good Will Is Tested – New York Times

For the insurance industry, long an opponent of health care reform, it was a striking change: with a new administration coming to Washington, insurers agreed to abandon some of their most controversial practices, like denying coverage to applicants with pre-existing medical conditions.

Kratovil takes health care heat – The Daily Times

On the lawn of Snow Hill Elementary on Tuesday, people greeted U.S. Rep. Frank Kratovil with homemade signs declaring their disgust for universal health care proposals.

Gov’t insurance would allow coverage for abortion – Associated Press

Health care legislation before Congress would allow a new government-sponsored insurance plan to cover abortions, a decision that would affect millions of women and recast federal policy on the divisive issue.

Groups Take Health-Reform Debate to Airwaves – Washington Post

$52 Million Has Been Spent So Far on Ads in What Could Be Record-Shattering Battle

Are Insurers’ Profits As Low As They Claim? – NPR

As the health care overhaul battle moves out of Washington and onto the airways and main streets during the August recess, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the trade association for the nation’s health insurers, is fighting a familiar battle.

In healthcare debate, small business becomes pivotal – Los Angeles Times

President Obama and lawmakers pledge to relieve firms struggling to cover workers. But how? Two company owners in Oregon and Ohio differ strongly, reflecting the difficulty in reaching a solution.

OPINION

Women small business owners really need healthcare reform - Nancy Duff Campbell

Insurance companies and others who profit from our broken health care system are mobilizing to defeat comprehensive reform by using misinformation and scare tactics. A prime example is the allegation that healthcare legislation – specifically the plan being considered by the House of Representatives – will hurt small businesses.

The Mob Is Not the Majority – Jon Cohn

Bill Scher writes today that "a right-wing mob is not a majority." He is absolutely correct. As you’ve doubtlessly read, heard, or seen by now, conservative groups that oppose health care reform have been organizing demonstrations at congressional town halls around the country. A major goal of these is to drive the media narrative–to make it seem as if the country is up in arms about the reform plans President Obama and his allies are trying to push through Congress.

Doggett: Republican Party Orchestrated Ambush, ‘They Decided To Set All This Up As A Video Opportunity’ – Think Progress

Over at ThinkProgress, Lee Fang has detailed how corporate and GOP funded right-wing extremists are orchestrating an astro-turf campaign to disrupt Democratic town halls and derail comprehensive health care reform. This past weekend, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) fell victim to the right’s strategy, where protesters followed him and chanted “just say no” to health care.

Top Finance Committee Members Rake In Health Care PAC Money – Huffington Post

As the debate over health care reform legislation has heated up over the spring and summer months, the Senate Finance Committee has found itself at the center of the debate. Leading this debate has been the duo of Max Baucus, committee chair, and Chuck Grassley, committee ranking member. According to campaign finance records filed with the FEC, the duo raised $219,000 from health and insurance political action committees (PACs) from April to June of this year.

Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing – Change.org

Foley’s First Rule of the Media, as I wrote back when discussing why single-payer did not get more press, is “It feeds on stories about conflict… It feeds on the new and surprising… When something meets our expectation – like a grassroots single-payer movement trying to influence health care reform – it tends to get ignored.” So it is that a town hall with a member of Congress where someone tells a horrific story about getting denied the care they need because of cost – an event I have literally witnessed hundreds of times in town halls in mutliple states – gets classified as “meets our expectations.” A town hall where people shout and disrupt the proceedings does not. Are these disruptions new and surprising overall? I suppose so, if for no other reason than they contrasts from the oh-so-visually unexciting visual of old white (predominately) guys sitting around a table adding amendments that we’ve been treated to for weeks. Do they create exciting conflict? Oh yes – they’re all about conflict.

Facts Are Stubborn Things – The White House

Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, "facts are stubborn things."

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