Obama's Healthcare Plan Faces Backlash

Why healthcare providers joined forces with Obama Christian Science Monitor — In 1993, they were a major factor in defeating President Clinton's proposals. But this time around, industry leaders sense change is inevitable, and they want a voice. There has been a sea change in the long struggle over healthcare reform in Washington. The last time a Democratic president took office promising major health reform, 16 years ago, the effort crashed amid fervent opposition by key groups in the healthcare industry. click to read complete article

Obama’s Push for Health Care Cuts Faces Daunting Odds New York Times — President Obama engineered a political coup on Monday by bringing leaders of the health care industry to the White House to build momentum for his ambitious health care agenda. Mr. Obama pronounced it “a historic day, a watershed event,” because doctors, hospitals, drug makers and insurance companies voluntarily offered $2 trillion in cost reductions over 10 years. The savings, he said, “will help us take the next and most important step — comprehensive health care reform.” click to read complete article

Obama’s dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words Washington Examiner — Republican strategists have a problem. The scale of what President Barack Obama proposes to do to the American economy is so enormous, so far-reaching and so potentially disastrous that the opposition party is having a hard time describing it. “How do you translate the numbers into something that people can grasp to represent the broader problem?” a Republican pollster asked in a recent conversation. John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders would love to hear an answer, but the pollster didn’t have one. click to read complete article