NEWS

Obama turns health care focus to families, voters – Associated Press

After weeks of urging lawmakers to embrace his health care agenda, President Barack Obama is taking his case back to the road Thursday as the public’s qualms about the plan seem to be growing.

Obama Press Conference On Health Care: TEXT, VIDEO – Huffington Post

Below is the full text of the prepared remarks President Obama delivered during his press conference last night, along with updates from the subsequent Q&A. The full transcript can be read here. Scroll to the bottom to watch the full press conference.

Employers Are Far From Unified Against Overhaul - Washington Post

Even as the national business lobby ramps up its opposition to health-care reform, there are signs that employers around the country are divided on the issue, reducing the force of an opposition push.

Leader Of GOP Health Care “Solutions Group” Says GOP Won’t Offer Health Care Bill - Greg Sargent

National Dems think they’ve caught a prominent Republican in another major health care gaffe, and they say they’re planning on banging away at it all day today.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — July 2009 - Kaiser Family Foundation

The July Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds a majority of the public remains supportive of taking action on health reform now, though there is some softening of support as criticisms and doubts seem to be registering.

Obama takes health care campaign to Cleveland - Associated Press

President Barack Obama is taking his campaign for health care reform to Cleveland today.

Sen. Bond Denounces Sen. DeMint’s "Waterloo" Comment: "I Think He Was Way Off-Base" – Media Matters

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has drawn a lot of fire for his assertion that if Republicans derail President Obama’s plans for health care reform, "it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." The White House has seized on the statement as evidence that Republicans are more interested in playing politics than improving the nation’s health care system. And, while DeMint insists that the president’s response "played right into my hands," some Republicans are trying to distance themselves from his inflammatory remarks.

OPINION

Obama Has a Grown-Up Talk With America (Gulp) - The New Republic

Late in tonight’s press conference, President Obama got a question that just begged for an easy, evasive answer. The question was whether he was prepared to promise Americans that, under his reform plan, "the government will never deny any services, that that’s going to be decided by the doctor and the patient, and the government will not deny any coverage."

Page 16 of the House Health-Care Bill Does Not Make Insurance Illegal – Ezra Klein

There’s been a weird talking point bubbling up that the House health-care plan makes private insurance — sigh — illegal. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, who breathes out crazy like the rest of us exhale carbon dioxide, warns that "on the 16th page, it says whatever health care you have now, it’s going to be gone within five years." Investor’s Business Daily says, "right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal."

Center for Rural Affairs releases report on public option - Bluestem Prairie

Cty5 Yesterday, Wallace’s Farmer reported in Report Explores Why Rural America Needs Public Health Insurance.

Nancy Pelosi on Health-Care Reform – Ezra Klein

Earlier today, in an interview with three reporters, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said health-care reform would pass the House and that it would include a public plan. She also said the Blue Dogs were basically resigned to this prospect, and that the Republicans "will do everything they can to stop it, not only because they disagree philosophically, but because they know politically that this is so very powerful" politically. The discussion was a bit disjointed for a straight transcript, but selected excerpts follow.