Under Fire, Obama Takes Health Plan West
President Barack Obama is turning his eyes West and hitting the Web as he steps up his counteroffensive against critics of a proposed health care overhaul.
The President continues his push for health care reform later this week with a town hall event in Bozeman, Montana Friday and one on Saturday in Grand Junction, Colorado, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier.
Mr. Obama assailed "wild misrepresentations" of his health care plan Tuesday during a town hall-style meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., taking on the role of fact-checker-in-chief for his top domestic priority. It's a strategy he will employ at two more town halls this week in Montana and Colorado, and on the White House Web site.
To that end, the Obama-aligned Democratic National Committee is running health care overhaul ads nationally on cable channels and in spots the president will visit, joining a chorus of ads that has become a cacophony over a problem that has vexed Washington for decades.
On the other side, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was joining the fray Wednesday, beginning to air 30-second spots in about 20 states criticizing the Democratic proposal to offer optional government health coverage, according to R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the nation's largest business group.
The multimillion-dollar buy would be one of the largest so far critical of Mr. Obama's effort, in a year in which opponents have been heavily outspent by supporters of the president's plan. The spot, showing a balloon being inflated until it bursts, says: "Big tax increases, huge deficits, expanded government control of health care. Call Congress."
In Portsmouth, Mr. Obama faced a polite crowd of 1,800 packed into a high school auditorium and a nationwide audience watching on cable television. He urged them not to listen to those who seek to "scare and mislead" on his plans to overhaul the nation's health care system.
"Where we do disagree, let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed," he said. "Because the way politics works sometimes is that people who want to keep things the way they are will try to scare the heck out of folks, and they'll create boogeymen out there."
The boogeymen have prompted the White House to strike back. The president ticked off the highest-profile, most emotional issues that critics have used to greatest advantage to interrupt town hall meetings held by lawmakers home for the August congressional recess.
For instance, Mr. Obama said the Democratic health care legislation would not create "death panels" to deny care to frail seniors - or "basically pull the plug on grandma because we decided that it's too expensive to let her live anymore," as the president put it. The provision he said had led to such talk would only authorize Medicare to pay doctors for counseling patients about end-of-life care if they want it, he contended.
He also disputed accusations that he seeks a federally run system, or one in which the government makes decisions about care.
Mr. Obama's new message, sharpened amid sliding public support for him and his plan, targeted a vital and, polls show, particularly skeptical audience: the tens of millions of people who already have health insurance and aren't yet convinced of a need to spend billions of dollars to change it or cover the nearly 50 million people who lack coverage.
That message is finding reinforcements online. The White House launched a Web site to counter critics and asked supporters to share with them e-mails they say misrepresent Mr. Obama's positions. It's a tactic similar to the one the tech-savvy Obama campaign used to win the White House.
CBS/ AP The President continues his push for health care reform later this week with a town hall event in Bozeman, Montana Friday and one on Saturday in Grand Junction, Colorado, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier.
Mr. Obama assailed "wild misrepresentations" of his health care plan Tuesday during a town hall-style meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., taking on the role of fact-checker-in-chief for his top domestic priority. It's a strategy he will employ at two more town halls this week in Montana and Colorado, and on the White House Web site.
To that end, the Obama-aligned Democratic National Committee is running health care overhaul ads nationally on cable channels and in spots the president will visit, joining a chorus of ads that has become a cacophony over a problem that has vexed Washington for decades.
On the other side, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was joining the fray Wednesday, beginning to air 30-second spots in about 20 states criticizing the Democratic proposal to offer optional government health coverage, according to R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the nation's largest business group.
The multimillion-dollar buy would be one of the largest so far critical of Mr. Obama's effort, in a year in which opponents have been heavily outspent by supporters of the president's plan. The spot, showing a balloon being inflated until it bursts, says: "Big tax increases, huge deficits, expanded government control of health care. Call Congress."
In Portsmouth, Mr. Obama faced a polite crowd of 1,800 packed into a high school auditorium and a nationwide audience watching on cable television. He urged them not to listen to those who seek to "scare and mislead" on his plans to overhaul the nation's health care system.
"Where we do disagree, let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed," he said. "Because the way politics works sometimes is that people who want to keep things the way they are will try to scare the heck out of folks, and they'll create boogeymen out there."
The boogeymen have prompted the White House to strike back. The president ticked off the highest-profile, most emotional issues that critics have used to greatest advantage to interrupt town hall meetings held by lawmakers home for the August congressional recess.
For instance, Mr. Obama said the Democratic health care legislation would not create "death panels" to deny care to frail seniors - or "basically pull the plug on grandma because we decided that it's too expensive to let her live anymore," as the president put it. The provision he said had led to such talk would only authorize Medicare to pay doctors for counseling patients about end-of-life care if they want it, he contended.
He also disputed accusations that he seeks a federally run system, or one in which the government makes decisions about care.
Mr. Obama's new message, sharpened amid sliding public support for him and his plan, targeted a vital and, polls show, particularly skeptical audience: the tens of millions of people who already have health insurance and aren't yet convinced of a need to spend billions of dollars to change it or cover the nearly 50 million people who lack coverage.
That message is finding reinforcements online. The White House launched a Web site to counter critics and asked supporters to share with them e-mails they say misrepresent Mr. Obama's positions. It's a tactic similar to the one the tech-savvy Obama campaign used to win the White House.
Popular in Politics
- Obama on NSA programs: Americans "not getting the complete story" 131 Comments
- Snowden: U.S. gov't destroyed my chance for fair trial 292 Comments
- McCain demands answers from Obama on "secret" email accounts 94 Comments
- Supreme Court strikes down Arizona voting law 691 Comments
- Amnesty Int'l calls for arrest of George W. Bush
- On Syria, U.S. and Russia have different perspectives, says Obama
- Obama in Europe for G8 as Syria crisis looms large
- Report: Obama's Africa trip could cost $60-100 million
misha256, are you affiliated with the White House or this administration ?
You write: "Obama represents the minority view ..."
I hope the needy are not left allone as that would be the end of the American Dream. To stand up for the needy has often guided American Politics in your country and abroad. If your Government is helping about 50 Million uninsured US-Americans, aren't you glad and proud about that?
My question is as follows?..
Do you really believe that a private for profit insurance company is going to act in your best interests if you have a medical condition that could cost them hundreds of thousands to correct?
The answer is you cannot trust them.
Consider how many times insurance companies have rejected valid claims in hopes that the insured will just pay it off, refused to cover costs associated with emergency room visits unless you are admitted into the hospital, attempt to keep you in network by forcing you to pay more if you want to keep your doctor who is not in their network and by labeling new procedures as experimental so they do not have to pay anything.
Having a government run healthcare alternative is not socialism. The truth is it provides us with another option and increases competition so the private insurance companies will have to clean up their act. The conservatives and democrats who are bed with big money do not want you to know that little fact regarding a free market.
The insurance companies know that if this passes in a form that helps us, they lose big money because competition with a partner who does not engage in collusion will force costs to the patient to come down.
It?s the law of supply and demand.
Another argument we keep hearing is how it?s going to increase the public debt by trillions. Well as they told us during the Bush presidency when the debt increased by 4.9 trillion, it?s only a small percentage of the GDP.
If it was acceptable to do it then it?s certainly acceptable to do it now, especially when it will benefit us.
It?s interesting how the story changes when you consider the facts.
Seniors lobby AARP says president went too far in saying the group was 'onboard' with his health legislation
****************************************
It is unfortunate that the rabid rightwads are pushing so much mis-information, dis-information and outright LIES, provided to them by groups that are fighting for their record profits to continue!
Even when people have health insurance, they still face high medical expenses because of gaps and limitations in coverage, says John Rother, executive vice president at AARP. He says these situations illustrate the need for health care reform.
You can't even call it "health care", because what we've got now has little to do with "health care" as opposed to "profits".
Boomers and older people hit hard
Source: AARP Bulletin Today | August 11, 2009
Older Americans appeared to be headed for trouble even before the recession took hold. An AARP study released last year found that between 1991 and 2007, personal bankruptcy filings soared by nearly 151 percent among people 55 to 64, and by almost 178 percent among those 65 to 74. Adults age 75 and older saw the highest jump in filings?an increase of almost 567 percent over the 16-year period.
Burgeoning medical debt may be responsible for many of those bankruptcies, the study suggested.
Even when people have health insurance, they still face high medical expenses because of gaps and limitations in coverage, says John Rother, executive vice president at AARP. He says these situations illustrate the need for health care reform.
?Unanticipated major medical costs, combined with inadequate insurance protection, have forced many more families into bankruptcy,? Rother says. ?This is a tragedy for all concerned, and we should have a health insurance system for all that would not permit this to happen.?
bulletin.aarp.org
?Betsy McCaughey?s recent commentary on health care reform in various media outlets is rife with gross?and even cruel?distortions.
?The main opponents of this research are those groups with a vested interest in a health care system that wastes billions of dollars each year on ineffective or unnecessary drugs, treatments or tests. Given Ms. McCaughey?s position as a Director of a medical device producer, I would hope that any potential conflict of interest has not influenced her commentary.
?More concerning, Ms. McCaughey?s criticism misinterprets legislation that would actually help empower individuals and doctors to make their own choices on end-of-life care.
?This measure would allow Medicare to pay doctors for taking the time to talk with individuals about difficult end-of-life care decisions. It would help provide people with better information on the positives and negatives?both physical and financial?that different treatments can mean for them and their families.
AARP Responds to Health Reform Scare TacticsJul 24, 2009 ... WASHINGTON?AARP Executive Vice President John Rother issued the following statement in response to recent commentary by Betsy McCaughey in ...
www.aarp.org/aarp/presscenter/.../mccaughey_statement.html