WASHINGTON — President Obama mounted a frontal assault on the insurance industry on Saturday, accusing it of airing “deceptive and dishonest ads” to derail his health care legislation and threatening to strip the industry of its longstanding exemption from federal anti-trust laws.
In unusually harsh terms, Mr. Obama cast insurance companies as obstacles to change interested only in preserving their own “profits and bonuses” and willing to “bend the truth or break it” to stop his drive to remake the nation’s health care system. The president used his weekly radio and Internet address to push back against industry assertions that legislation will drive up premiums.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, ‘Take one of these, and call us in a decade.’ Well, not this time.”
With the next G20 Summit approaching in Pittsburgh, the President goes over the progress in stemming a global economic crisis. He discusses the impact of the Recovery Act, and pledges that “lobbyists for big Wall Street banks” will not prevent real reform for the future, including a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
“14,000 people are losing their health insurance every day NOT because of the cost of health insurance [he pauses to laugh], it’s because they’re losing it because they lost their job!”
Today, in a long speech on the House floor, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) laid out his case against health care reform. On top of the usual talk about a “government takeover” and “socialized medicine,” Gingrey stressed his belief that, in the midst of a recession, improving the nation’s ailing health care system shouldn’t be President Obama’s top priority. Gingrey acknowledged that 14,000 Americans are losing their health insurance every day, but literally laughed off the notion that this constitutes a health care crisis. Rather, he said, “14,000 people are losing their health insurance every day NOT because of the cost of health insurance [laughs], they’re losing it because they lost their job!”
Media Matters catches Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey (Georgia) in a pretty insensitive moment during a speech on the floor of the House. At one point during his long speech railing against health care reform, Gingrey found the idea amusing that 14,000 Americans losing their health insurance every day constituted some kind of health care crisis:
Obama highlights a Treasury report that, under status quo, half of Americans (under age 65) will lose health coverage at some point over next ten years.
In this week’s address, President Barack Obama highlighted a new report from the Treasury Department that found that about half of all Americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next ten years. The report also found that Americans under 21 have more than a 50-percent chance of going uninsured at some point in that time. And more than one-third of Americans will go without coverage for longer than one year. The full Treasury report can be viewed HERE.
The President discusses the state of the economy amidst positive signs from the GDP. Making clear that this is little comfort to those struggling, he notes that we appear to have averted an even worse disaster and offers hope for the time ahead.
Predatory lenders, credit card companies and banks have amassed millions to lobby against federal legislation to aid consumers in understanding and comparing financial contracts.
Huffington Post, July 17th, 2009
TARP Oversight Chair Elizabeth Warren was on the Rachel Maddow show, discussing the ongoing battle to regulate the credit card industry.
MADDOW: Are you worried that the [credit card] industry’s going to be about to kill [credit card reform legislation] in the crib? Reporting is that it’s their top priority to get rid of it.
WARREN: My gosh! I have to tell you, it’s like they’re stampeding in the halls already in Washington. the Gucci loafers. These guys have built up a huge war chest, they’ve been interviewing public relations firms to see who can come up with the next Harry And Louise ad to explain to the American people why they’r better off with credit cards that nobody can read, hundreds of pages of mortgage documents that nobody can read…the idea is you’re better off with how things are…forget all that stuff the happened over the last few years. And we promise to keep things up just like we did before. I just can’t believe theyr’e trying to sell that to the American people.
For the last few weeks, Republicans have been attacking Nancy Pelosi for criticizing the CIA’s congressional disclosure. Now comes the news that Leon Panetta, CIA director, has launched an internal probe of a “highly classified intelligence program” that was never properly disclosed to Congress.
The move by Panetta appears to be an implicit acknowledgment by the agency that it should have disclosed information about the post-9/11 secret program to Congress much earlier than it did. When informed in the last few days, Republicans and Democrats are described as “stunned.” This has now been followed by discussion about a potential “Murder Squad” operating internationally out of Cheney’s office in the Bush Whitehouse.
The President recounts Americas great history of overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges, and pledges to lead America in continuing that tradition. Focusing on creating a clean energy economy comprehensive health reform, and an education system in need of change, the President pledges not to leave these decades-old problems to yet another generation to solve.
