One number in this new Gallup poll on health-care reform caught my eye, because, oddly, it has good news for both sides of the debate. Gallup asked the 48% of people who oppose health care reform about why they’re against the Democrats’; plans. The most popular reason, cited by 20% of people, was a concern [...]
Skipping through the Candy Land of the health-care bill, one is tempted to hum a few bars of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”
What a deal. For dealmakers, that is. Not so much for American taxpayers, who have been misled into thinking that the sweetheart deals have been excised.
Not only are the deals still there, but [...]
When Heather Staples’ 6-year-old daughter, Sophia, fell and cut her eyebrow, Staples knew her daughter might need stitches. But instead of running straight to an emergency room, Staples took a few minutes to compare prices at nearby emergency rooms.
“I have a high-deductible plan, so I knew that I would be paying for the charges out [...]
Anyone who’s followed the health care debate even casually over the past year has probably heard Rep. Bart Stupak’s name mentioned a time or two. The nine-term Democrat from Michigan is the author of the “Stupak Amendment,” a rider attached to the House health care legislation that would effectively ban most government funding of abortion [...]
WASHINGTON — Some oppose abortion, some are worried about premiums, and some have zeroed in on taxes. But House Democrats do have this in common: They’re all being heavily courted to support President Obama’s health care legislation.
Although much of the focus during the health care debate has been on the Senate, a push by Obama [...]
Support from his own party in doubt, President Barack Obama summoned more than a dozen House Democrats to the White House Thursday, pleading with them to put aside their qualms, seize a historic moment and vote for his massive health care overhaul.
It’s the opportunity of a generation, he told them — and a chance to [...]
WASHINGTON – The end game at hand, President Barack Obama took command Wednesday of one final attempt by Democrats to enact bitterly contested health care legislation, calling for an “up or down vote” within weeks under rules denying Republicans the ability to kill the bill with mere talk.
Appearing before a White House audience of invited [...]
WASHINGTON — The future of President Obama’s health care overhaul now rests largely with two blocs of swing Democrats in the House of Representatives — abortion opponents and fiscal conservatives — whose indecision signals the difficulties Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces in securing the votes necessary to pass the bill.
With Republicans unified in their opposition, Democrats [...]
WASHINGTON — Democrats struggling to enact President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul may take a seldom-used Senate shortcut. That prospect has infuriated Republicans who, it turns out, have used the process far more than Democrats.
That’s just one hint of the pressures, emotions and uncertainty that Democrats’ use of the so-called reconciliation process would unleash for [...]
President Obama and Democratic and Republican members of Congress spent most of the day Thursday debating the future of the American health care system: who it will cover, how it will do that, and how much it will cost. The historic bipartisan health care summit lasted almost seven hours. Though substantive and important, even President [...]