NEWS

Protesters Rally With Gripes Against Big Health Insurers – Wall Street Journal

Health-overhaul advocates turned out across the country today at rallies targeted against insurance companies and promoting a public insurance alternative as part of health legislation. MoveOn.org, Health Care for America Now and labor unions said they organized about 150 gatherings, which followed last month’s raucous town-hall meetings focused on the health overhaul.

Fifty-one votes for health care? - USA Today

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., has got his hands full this week trying to move his health care bill through the Senate Finance Committee (see today’s USA TODAY story here), but many lawmakers are looking ahead to how the debate could unfold once the legislation hits in the Senate floor.

Democrats Question Baucus’s $80B Deal With Drug Makers – Washington Post

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) faced an early test of his leadership Wednesday after fellow Democrats challenged the $80 billion deal he struck with drug makers to help pay for health-care reform.

Conservatives Turn Their Sights On Health Care Reform’s Most Obvious Provision – Huffington Post

Democrats are bracing themselves for a new line of conservative attack against a provision in the health care legislation once considered so non-controversial that it was endorsed by several major Republican officials.

G.O.P. Senator Draws Critics in Both Parties – New York Times

Nearly three decades ago, Charles E. Grassley was among the Republican conservatives swept into the Senate on the wave that Ronald Reagan rode to the White House. Now he is on the defensive as he seeks a sixth term, no longer conservative enough for those back home in Iowa who style themselves the protectors of the Reagan legacy.

Senate passes successor bill – Boston Globe

The state Senate passed a bill this afternoon that would allow Governor Deval Patrick to name an interim successor to Edward M. Kennedy, potentially paving the way for appointment of a new US senator later this week.

Elmendorf: Health Care Progress May Not Be Possible for Two Weeks – TPM

This is somewhat complicated, and I’ll flesh it out and get you video just as soon as I can. But with Democrats anxious to pass a health care bill, and avoiding delays seen as a high political priority, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) indicated today that there may be major delays in the health care process going forward. During today’s health care hearing, he told CBO chief Doug Elmendorf today that the Senate Finance Committee must be provided with a complete CBO score of the final package before the panel can hold a vote on it.

Mike Ross raises eyebrows with healthy haul – Politico

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross — a Blue Dog Democrat playing a key role in the health care debate — sold a piece of commercial property in 2007 for substantially more than a county assessment and an independent appraisal say it was worth.

Lawmakers regrouping to seek bipartisan healthcare deal – The Hill

Democrats’ failure to attract Republican support on health reform has launched new bipartisan talks in both chambers as groups seek to influence the legislation ahead of crucial floor debates.

OPINION

Cantor To Uninsured Woman With Growing Tumors: Get ‘An Existing Government Program’ Or Find Charity - Think Progress

At the Richmond Times-Dispatch “public square” forum yesterday, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) fielded open questions from his constituents on the health reform debate for the first time this summer.

Health Care Is Hazardous to Poll Numbers for Grassley, Other Senators – FiveThirtyEight

One of the things about the so-called Gang of Six — the group of Senators to which Max Baucus issued an exclusive invitation to participate in health care negotiations — is that each one started out the year in a place of seeming electoral invincibility. Baucus, Kent Conrad, Jeff Bingaman, Olympia Snowe, Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi won re-election with an average of 72 percent of the vote as of their last election, and none had a challenger that came closer than 39 points.

Grassley, Hatch: Obama Rushed Us! - Jon Cohn

The Senate Finance Committee is starting its markup hearings this morning. At the moment, Republican Orrin Hatch is speaking–and making the same point fellow Republican Charles Grassley did. The reason bipartisanship broke down, Hatch says, is that Obama rushed the process. If only he’d given the two parties more time to work out a deal, there’d be a bill with strong support from both parties.

ICYMI: "Half A Million Doctors Support Health Care Reform" – Media Matters

"Because our patients can’t wait."

Health Care Reform Needs Public Option—Not Band-Aid - AFL-CIO

Today, union and health care activists around the country are raising their voices against the private health insurance companies’ mutlimillion-dollar campaign to block health care reform. In dozens of rallies and demonstrations they are saying: “Big Insurance: We’re sick of it.”

We Must Protect Insurance Companies from Reform – Change.org

Yes, I’ve been a fool. Will Ferrell once again has touched me with enlightenment. He’s like a modern Buddha, but covered with frizzy, ‘fro-like hair. Here I thought keeping costs down so the nation doesn’t go bankrupt, covering more of our citizens so they don’t go broke when they get sick, regulating insurers so they curb their most abusive practices, and improving quality were the chief aims of health reform. But I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong. Clearly, health insurance companies are the real victims of our broken health care system. After all, my favorite TV actors tell me so.