On Health Reform, Obama Should Heed His Doc, Not AMA

President rejects notion that legislation has been neutered

(NEWSER) - President Obama hit back today at critics who say he's compromised too much on health care legislation, charging that "every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill." In an interview with the Washington Post , he bemoaned how much the public option in particular had become such a "source of ideological contention," but added, "I didn't campaign on the public option." More»

Obama, Reid warm to Snowe 'trigger' plan phased in state by state

(NEWSER) - The White House and Congress are now wrangling to reconcile the five health care bills on the floors of the House and Senate, and no issue is causing greater headaches than the so-called public option. The Senate Finance Committee's bill, which has the support of Republican Olympia Snowe, doesn't have one, but the Maine senator says she favors a "trigger" that would establish a public plan on a state-by-state basis if private plans aren't affordable enough. The White House likes the idea, but liberal Dems worry about Snowe's growing clout. More»

(NEWSER) - Presidents from FDR to Nixon to Clinton tried and failed to reform the health care system, but with Barack Obama closer than ever before, the left is already blasting him for compromising too much. That's a shame, writes Clinton strategist Paul Begala, who regrets "setting the bar at 100%" in 1994 and dooming health reform for 15 years. Universal coverage may be "a moral imperative," but sticking to principles is pointless if the legislation won't pass. More»

President may buck Dems to win over AMA

(NEWSER) - President Obama is taking his case for overhauling health care to a tough audience today: The American Medical Association, which is holding its annual meeting in Chicago, came out last week against Obama's plan to offer federal insurance to compete with private insurers. But the president privately with AMA officials about limiting malpractice lawsuits, which the organization has long fought for, the New York Times reports, in an effort to keep the AMA at the negotiating table for larger reform. More»

His mother had health insurance when she died, and it paid up

(NEWSER) - A recent book on President Obama’s mother undermines his oft-told story that his mother spent the final years of her life battling insurance companies over her medical bills. The book, by New York Times reporter Janny Scott, reveals that Ann Dunham actually had health insurance that readily paid her claims. She did have a dispute, but it was with her disability insurance, the Times reports. And Obama must have known that, because in one letter she turns the case over to “my son and attorney, Barack Obama.” More»