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Subscribe to RSSPresident Obama and his allies, concerned about deep skepticism over his landmark health care overhaul, are orchestrating an elaborate campaign to sell the public on the law, including a new tax-exempt group that will spend millions of dollars on advertising to beat back attacks on the measure and Democrats who voted for it,” the New York Times reports. “Americans will see the first evidence of the public relations offensive on Tuesday, when Mr. Obama travels to Wheaton, Md., to conduct a nationally televised question-and-answer session with older citizens to trumpet one of the law’s most popular features: $250 rebate checks to help Medicare beneficiaries pay for prescription drugs.”
The Wall Street Journal: “A fresh fight between insurance companies and the Obama administration is taking shape, this time over how much seniors should pay for their privately run Medicare plans next year. On Monday, insurers that sell Medicare Advantage plans must submit their 2011 bids to the government. In a letter to four insurance-industry executives, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius warned the companies not to increase premiums and co-payments for seniors.”
The New York Times on the latest in the Gulf: "The Coast Guard commander in charge of the federal response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico warned on Sunday that even if the flow of crude was stopped by summer, it could take well into autumn -- and maybe much longer -- to deal with the slick spreading relentlessly across the gulf."
"Afghanistan’s intelligence chief and interior minister resigned yesterday, taking responsibility for failing to prevent an attack on a government conference held in Kabul last week," the AP notes.
"The State Department has conceded committing a diplomatic faux pas by sending birthday greetings to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II a week early," the New York Daily News writes. "We were a week early," State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said. "As always, better to give a greeting a week early than a week late." A Buckingham Palace official said, "No offense was taken at all." And get this? It's not even her REAL birthday: "The queen's actual birthday is on April 21, but she celebrates a second, so-called official birthday, on a Saturday in June decided by the government -- this year on June 12."
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Re the State Department sending early official birthday greetings to Queen Elizabeth II, no harm done. Early is better than late.
It is hard to 'hit' a moving target. I have been there several times in early June when it was celebrated. I am sure that Her Majesty will be as gracious as always.
Healthcare Reform went to Insurance Reform to Insurance Industry subsidization, what started off as a meaningful bill designed to control costs and protect consumers ended up being a law mandating you buy insurance from a corrupt insurance industry no matter what the cost, our government is a failure for its people. The so-called Financial Reform Bill is following exactly the same path and is destined to be a meaningless pile of dead trees perpetuating "business as usual" on Wall Street with the taxpayer on the hook for the next crash, make no mistake people the Congress of this country is a corporate entity and you have no representation in D.C., and your vote can't fix it.
Was the NY Times surprised that it would take months to clean up BP's mess? Even I could figure out that large amounts of oil continuously spilling and floating off shore would be finding its way inland over many months. Although I avoided politics almost entirely this weekend, I was struck that the media JUST picked up on the often-made assessment by Thad Allen and WH agency heads that it is the relief wells that will ultimately shut down the oil spill completely; all the other steps including the latest are temporary measures. This isn't a new comment from anyone nor is the notion that it will take months to clean it up. Common sense should tell us that.
On the Health Care issue, it is to be hoped that the phasing out part of Medicare part"D will be done soon. This non funded gimmick given to us by the previous administration is a joke. It is my understanding that the $250.00 rebate is not for everyone paying into part "D", only for those that have arrived at the 'doughnut hole' already this year. Anyone clarify that for me?
As for Queen Elizabeth, depending on which b-day date used, the greeting was either early or late! I guess that as Queen she prefers a summer celebration but seems a bit silly to postpone the official celebration because the weather might be nicer. This is no big deal and if it becomes one, then people really have become critics for the sake of being a critic.
Amen Jody.
Her actual birthday is in April and that too is celebrated although a little less flashy. The official birthday is in June because as you state the weather is nicer. The queen, when younger, always rode horseback and it is known as the trooping of the color. It has often been said that there are not as many tourists there in April, and like it or not, the Royal Family are a moneymaker for the country. The pageantry is spectacular and colorful.
I'm not sure why President Obama needs to go out selling health care reform when there are so many other more important things to address like financial reform and climate and energy reform. Still bet a lot of the old geezers who were snookered into those despicable town hall bleatings from last year will change their tune when they get that $250 check helping them pay for Clueless George's doughnut hole drug coverage. Probably should wait until after the checks go out to tout them as then that reality would sink in with the old geezer crowd.
So George Bush produces a taxpayer funded give away to Pharma called medicare D. Barak Obama goes one better and mandates that individuals must buy insurance form private companies either with their own money, or with taxpayer subsidies.
That is Change I can Believe in - NOT
Going on 10 years of presidential incompetence.
The Administration is wasting its time trying to sell Obamacare to the public.
Pollster.com and RealClearPolitics.com have both been tracking the findings of every major polling organization and posting approval/disapproval numbers for President Obama's health care reform bill since before its passage, and right up to the present. They average all the polls, and list the results of each survey within the average.
Check it out.
Virtually every poll shows either a plurality or outright majority of Americans opposed to the legislation. Dig deeper into the polling, and you'll find that majorities of Americans consistently (and correctly) believe that this "reform" will degrade the quality of their health care while increasing its cost.
Some things the Administration can effectively spin...this isn't one of them, apparently.
It takesBS to sell BS......Now the American taxpayers have to pay for his PR campaign. Make the DNC pay for it. More wasted money.
It's going to be a tax-exempt group, probably like a 527. It will come from donations, not taxpayer funds.
the article mentions Anita Dunn heading the "group". Axelrod says Obama "bullish" and ready to spread the word. At the end of the article, it says this is an administration-wide effort. And, you want us to believe these outside "groups" are paying for all this? Every time he flies someplace to campaign again...I mean, support, the HCR it the taxpayer money. It's costing enough without adding more campaign costs to it. and, just watch, good 'ol Anita will probably start collecting some huge consulting fee from us!
John J-386884 is correct that this will be funded by tax-exempt groups. However, to say that those spending money here could not do something better with it is also correct. We WILL be porrer for this PR war Obama is mounting. And indirectly, we will be paying SOME of this in taxes in the sense that those who contribute to these tax-exempt groups will be able to get a tax deduction. That should not be the case, I agree, that organizations like this should be able to skirt around the tax rules and get a tax exemption even when their only TRUE reason for being is to peddle political interest. However, this "TRUTH SPINNING" is allowed under current regulations favored by BOTH the Democrats and the Republicans. Their corrupt dealings (and Obama's, in this case) is something truely deplorable in Washington. Most Tea Party candidates are running against rank and file Republicans. If you are a Republican, I urge you strongly to vote AGAINST the candidate that the PARTY would prefer and vote for a real independant voice in the Primaries. For those of you who are not Republicans, I cannot expect that you will suddenly change stripes and vote for smaller Governement, but I want you to think along these lines: If Goverment IS corrupt, more Governement means MORE CORRUPTION and less Government means less corruption. We are seeing the possibility of kicking out the established status quo in Washington like never before. I am hopeful that we will ALL choose to do that very thing!
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Congress has put the health care for older Americans on Medicare at “grave risk” by not stopping the 21% cut in doctor’s payments for serving the federal program, the American Medical Association warned.
J. James Rohack
The AMA launched a multi-million dollar national advertising campaign, with ads on TV and the radio, and in newpapers, including the New York Times, USAToday and the Wall Street Journal, “encouraging the public to contact their senators and tell them to get back to work and fix Medicare now,” said J. James Rohack, AMA president, in a statement.
“The Senate has turned its back on our nation’s seniors and the physicians who care for them by leaving for vacation and failing to stop a 21% Medicare cut before their self-imposed June 1 deadline,” Rohack said.
Rohack said the cut also affects military families because their health care, through the TRICARE federal health plan, has rates tied to Medicare rates.
About one in five physicians (17%) say they have already been forced to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practice, according to an AMA online survey of about 9,000 of its doctor members. Nearly one-third of primary care physicians (31%) have already been forced to take that action, according to the survey.
Respondents said the top two reasons for these actions were the ongoing threat of future cuts and the fact that Medicare payment rates were already too low.
“Make no mistake: Physicians want to care for seniors and military families, but the chronic instability caused by the threat of future payment cuts has already taken its toll – and a 21% cut will make matters much worse,” Rohack said.
Rohack noted that it is the third time this year Congress has allowed the Medicare deadline to expire without action.
“Each time Congress delays fixing the Medicare physician payment cut makes the problem worse and the price tag higher for the American taxpayer. Enough is enough. The Senate needs to fix the Medicare physician payment system for America’s seniors once and for all,” he said.
Most Americans have been misled about reform and oppose it based on what they have heard. When Americans are asked about the ideas contained in the reform separately from the legislation, approval ratings are high.