President Obama , urges movement on health care reform

WASHINGTON — With lawmakers on Capitol Hill struggling to reconcile clashing views on overhauling the nation’s health care system, President Obama made a new appeal to the public not to let Congress put off action on his top legislative priority.

"In order to make it happen, I’m going to need ordinary Americans to stand up and say, now’s the time,” Obama said Wednesday at a town hall-style forum at Northern Virginia Community College in the Washington suburb of Annandale, Va. "If Congress thinks that the American people don’t want to see change, frankly the lobbyists and the special interests will end up winning the day.” The president said lawmakers are often tempted to drop politically sensitive issues.

"For those who say, ‘Well, you know what, this is something that is very complicated, so we shouldn’t rush into it,’ that’s what happens in Congress all the time,” Obama said. "They have hearings, they write white papers, and then suddenly the lobbyists and the special interests start going at it. And next thing you know, another 10 years has gone by, and we still haven’t done anything.” Wednesday’s forum was the third in three weeks devoted to health care.

Debate over health care legislation is expected to move to center stage next week when lawmakers return to Washington from their July 4 recess.

But leading Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have begun to call for slower action. "We could target the things that are askew in the system and fix them without this kind of massive overhaul,” he recently said on Fox News Sunday.

Obama has said he hopes to sign a health care bill in the fall. Wednesday, he implored his audience not to let that timeline slip.


by the associated press

Walmart agrees Obama’s health insurance proposals

WASHINGTON — Walmart is the latest traditionally Republican-leaning businesses to embrace key portions of President Barack Obama’s bid to overhaul health care. It’s a trend that could complicate opponents’ efforts to build a united front when Congress ramps up its work on the issue.

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, Tuesday endorsed the idea of requiring large companies to offer health insurance to their workers. The proposal is central to Obama’s hopes of covering the nation’s nearly 50 million uninsured and is disliked by some business groups.

Walmart was joined by a major labor union that sometimes has criticized the company’s relatively stingy employee benefits.

Change of position

The big retailer is not the only one-time opponent of health care revisions to embrace at least some aspects of Obama’s proposals. The major group representing pharmaceutical makers recently said it would reduce senior citizens’ costs for prescription drugs by $80 billion over 10 years. And major groups representing doctors, hospitals and other providers have pledged to reduce health care costs by large amounts.

Nearly all these groups opposed efforts to overhaul the nation’s health care system during the Clinton administration in 1993-94. But with better prospects for a health care bill this time, many businesses and industries want to be part of the plan.


by the associated press