by Jennifer Martinez

The Obama administration has launched a new website that's aimed at taking the guesswork out of finding a health care plan. Called HealthCare.gov, the site is dedicated to helping people navigate their health insurance options and understand the provisions in the recently passed health care reform law.

The website was a requirement listed in the health care law passed in March and the agency had to get the site running by its July 1 deadline. In October, the website will launch a tool that lets people compare pricing of various insurance policy plans they qualify for, a feature that's receiving backlash from some large insurance companies.

Last month, America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's Washington-based lobbying arm, sent a letter to Health and Human Services voicing concerns with the insurance plan information that may be listed in the upcoming feature. For example, the agency asked insurance companies for data about how many claims its health plans deny.

"Providing information about claims denials without providing proper context does not begin to tell the whole story," said AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach, who said claims are often denied because a provider sent a duplicate claim or submitted a claim to the wrong health plan.

Currently, the website has a feature that lets people find the public and private health insurance options available to them based on their circumstances and state they live in. After the user completes a short survey about themselves, the tool lists the various health care options they may qualify for.

by Noam Levey and Mike Memoli

Ninety days after he signed the landmark healthcare overhaul, President Obama pledged to defend the law against what he said was a Republican platform of rolling back important consumer protections.

"We're not going back," he said at an event in the East Room this afternoon. "I refuse to go back. And so do countless Americans."

The president met earlier with insurance regulators and consumers to highlight a series of new protections in the law designed to rein in insurance company abuses that the White House is calling a Patient's Bill of Rights.

The insurance rules, all of which are set out in the new law, were put in the bill by the Obama administration and its Democratic allies to provide Americans with some early protections until the insurance market is completely overhauled in 2014.

In his remarks, Obama also invoked an earlier attempt by Anthem Blue Cross to raise insurance rates on California customers in a warning to insurers not to use this interim period to pass "unjustifiable rate increases." Anthem's planned increase was a major part of the administration's final push to pass the legislation.

Photo Credit: Jason Reed / Reuters

Updated

by Mike Memoli

The Democratic National Committee today launches a 60-second television ad promoting health care reform, part of a larger campaign that dovetails with the White House's effort to reassure voters of the merits of the legislation signed more than two months ago.

As Noam Levey reported earlier this week, an estimated 80,000 seniors who fall into the so-called "doughnut hole" are set to begin receiving $250 rebate checks this week through the legislation, marking one of the first tangible outcomes of the law. President Obama held a town hall meeting earlier this week to highlight that, and now Democrats are making a more overt political push on the issue.

The 60-second ad, airing nationwide on cable, lists other highlights of the bill while arguing that "Republicans want to take it all away." The DNC effort also includes a PR effort against 52 Republican members of Congress who opposed the legislation and threaten to repeal it. Organizing for America, the former campaign organization of President Obama now working with the DNC, will also hold various press events across the country to promote the law.

"We are in a far different place today than Republicans predicted," a Democratic spokesman said. "They said health reform would be our waterloo. They said it would be apocalyptic to our party and to the health care system. They said they would run and win on repealing the law and that we would pay a political price. Oh how the worm has turned."

UPDATE: RNC spokeswoman Katie Wright responds with this statement: "How do you know ObamaCare is unpopular with voters? When worried Democrats are still trying to sell it months after the vote. No media blitz will change the fact that Democrats ignored their constituents and voted for a bill that grows the deficit and endangers Medicare. As we saw at town halls last summer, Americans didn't want ObamaCare, they don't like it now and they won't like it when they vote in November."

by Noam Levey

Facing lingering public skepticism about the new healthcare law, President Obama traveled to Maryland Tuesday to tout the distribution of $250 rebate checks for senior citizens who hit the so-called doughnut hole in Medicare's drug coverage, one of the law's first benefits.

At the same time, the president announced a new initiative to halve waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare program by the end of 2012, an ambitious goal that would require the federal government to recover as much as $18 billion in 2012.

"I want to send a notice to all who would swindle and steal from seniors and the Medicare system," the president said during a townhall meeting in suburban Washington. "We are going to find you, we will prosecute you, and we will ultimately prevent those crimes from happening ever again."

Government authorities recovered $2.5 billion in 2009, according to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice, which are jointly charged with stepping up enforcement efforts.

The same year, the health and human services department estimates that it made about $35 billion in erroneous payments in Medicare's fee-for-service program, or 12.4% of the total.

By Andrew Zajac

A group of insurance consumer advocates has asked Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus to back off plans to put rule-writing authority for drafting health care coverage standards in the hands of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a private organization long regarded by critics as cozy with the insurance industry.

The request, by current and former consumer representatives linked to the NAIC, argues that the association lacks the transparency and independence necessary to even-handedly craft rules, which could affect the flow of billions of premium dollars from currently uninsured Americans who would be required to obtain medical coverage under Baucus' health care overhaul legislation.

by Andrew Zajac

Don't let the venom and bad manners in some of the town hall meetings on health care distract you from the real issues involving the availability and affordability of medical insurance, President Obama told listeners this morning in his weekly radio address.

Obama downplayed the ferocity of confrontations between citizens and lawmakers at a number of gatherings held to assess the national mood for an overhaul of the health care delivery system, saying that beyond "the chatter and noise out there" a serious discussion is taking place.

As he has for several weeks now, Obama sought to keep the pressure on insurance companies, whose practices, he asserted, put health coverage out of reach of too many Americans.

Read on about the debate below the fold, see the full texts below, see the president's address above and Sen. Orrin Hatch's response here:

By Andrew Zajac

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama's choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, cuts a figure of no-nonsense, Midwestern rectitude.

Middle of the road, plain-spoken, competent. Yeah, her husband likes rock, Gary Sebelius.doc but he's a federal magistrate, so how wild is he going to get?

If there is a provocateur gene in the family, it may have gone to son John, who caused a stir last year when he began marketing "Don't Drop the Soap", a prison board game he created, out of the governor's mansion.

by Mark Silva

Sanjay Gupta may have one more House call to make.

Before he heads to Capitol Hill for confirmation as surgeon general -- though the problem that the well-known tele-doctor has may not be so much in the Senate, where President-elect Barack Obama's candidate should get a light check-up for confirmation. His problem is in the House Judiciary Committee, apparently.

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the committee, has circulated a letter to colleagues suggesting that Obama's prescription for surgeon general is misguided. The Huffington Post has picked up on the anti-Gupta missive that Conyers has fired.

Columnist Paul Krugman, a prize-winning economist, already has spoken out against Gupta, star medical correspondent for CNN and CBS. "I join in opposition with respected Nobel Prize-wining economist Paul Krugman, who has very serious concerns with having Dr. Gupta be the nation's Surgeon General.,'' Conyers writes.

"Also, there are highly experienced medical professionals who question whether Dr. Gupta has the necessary experience or even the medical background to be in charge of some 6,000 physicians or more who work in the United States Public Health Service,'' Conyers writes.

"Gerard M. Farrel, executive director of the Commissioned Officers Association, stated in the Jan. 7, 2008 Washington Post that Dr. Gupta will certainly face a 'credibility gap' because he never served in the National Health Service Corp, and furthermore, does not have the "experience or qualifications to be the leader of the nation's public health service." Clearly, it is not in the best interests of the nation to have someone like this who lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance to some of the poorest and most underserved communities in America.''

American winner of eight swimming gold medals Michael Phelps (2nd R) attends a photocall for the Speedo Athlete Media Day fellow U.S. team member Ryan Lochte (2nd L) and Australian swimmers Eamon Sullivan (L) and Grant Hackett (R) during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 19, 2008. (Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

by Laura Olson
Swimmer Ryan Lochte, a four-time medalist at the Beijing Olympics, lent his medals and celebrity Tuesday to Capitol Hill efforts to fight muscular dystrophy.

Lochte spent the day meeting with congressional leaders, including Illinois's Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, about reauthorizing legislation to fund research on the genetic disease.

"It's an honor and a privilege to give back and help out the awareness," said Lochte, his four Beijing medals, including two gold ones, clinking against each other.

Lochte, 24, said his uncle's brother suffered from the disease, and he was inspired by watching his uncle's work for the cause. Lochte said he is donating a portion of his endorsement earnings to Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, an organization focused on individuals affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

He said the lawmakers he met with voiced enthusiasm for the legislation. Durbin was impressed by the group's efforts and offered to help them, said Durbin spokeswoman Christina Mulka.

Lochte, from Gainesville, Fla., was joined by two victims of the disease as he talked with lawmakers about the need for a cure.

by Jill Zuckman

What happened to health care?

In the daily rat-a-tat-tat between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, the silence is deafening.

It was once the "it" topic of public policy that helped propel the Clintons into office, sparked open warfare among special interests, and then toppled a Democratic Congress.

For a while, health care was that which was not spoken about following the 1994 legislative debacle. For Sen. Hillary Clinton, it was something that taught her great lessons. And in the drawn- out Democratic primary fight between her and Obama, the cost and availability of health care were daily fodder in the debate over which candidate would do a better job as president.

And now, there is ... not much.

The continual tussle between the two presumptive presidential nominees -- Obama and McCain -- has largely centered recently on national security and the high price of gasoline. Public opinion polls have shown that among the top issues of concern to Americans, health care is languishing far behind the economy, the war and the price of gas. One CBS poll from July put voter interest in health care at just 3 percent. In August, it was at 8 percent.

Trumped by gas

"For a lot of people who have health insurance, they are paying more for health care, but it may not show up as concretely as paying $70 to fill their gas tank," said Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster.

by Stephen J. Hedges

Call it the smoking jalapeno. After nearly two months of mystery, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has identified a jalepeno pepper that is contaminated with the same strain of Salmonella saintpaul that has sickened more than 1,237 people in 43 states.

It's the first time during this outbreak that a test has found the salmonella strain in a piece of produce.

The discovery, which will be announced shortly by FDA, was made at a packing plant in McAllen, Texas, according to a source familiar with the issue. The pepper was grown in Mexico, the source said, but was sent to the U.S. for sale. Authorities are not sure where it was contaminated with salmonella.

It is also not clear whether the same packing plant, which has not been named by the FDA, also packs tomatoes. The FDA first suspected tomatoes as the cause of the salmonella outbreak and warned consumers on June 7 to avoid certain types of tomatoes. It lifted that warning last week.

Because people continued to get sick after the tomato warning, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shifted their investigation to jalapeno and Serrano peppers, which sick people had reported eating.

For the FDA, which was under public and political pressure to find the cause of the salmonella outbreak, the discovery of a smoking pepper is a big breakthrough.

By Euna Lhee

When Fran Visco welcomed 1,600 breast cancer researchers and their advocates to Baltimore this week, she was doing more than opening a symposium for scientists. She was celebrating one of the most successful medical lobbying efforts in the nation's history.

The researchers and physicians are funded by the Department of Defense - an unlikely source for cutting-edge programs in breast cancer.

It was 17 years ago that Visco, a Philadelphia lawyer and breast cancer survivor, began lobbying for increased spending to fight breast cancer.

Her efforts paid off two years later, when Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, expanded a tiny Defense Department mammography project to $210 million.

Now known as the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, its grants have provided a total of $4.7 billion to scientists who study not only breast cancer but also autism, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, neurofibromatosis and other diseases far removed from the battlefield.

Officials acknowledge that the beneficiaries of the research extend beyond the military to the general public. And they said no one suffers as a result.

Read the full story in the Baltimore Sun.

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

Medical researchers and politicians are tiptoeing into an area of health care that makes some Americans uncomfortable, even angry, and it has nothing to do with such hot-button issues as cloning and stem-cell research. This time, the idea is to press doctors and patients to use particular drugs and treatments in order to save money.

On the surface, it seems simple enough: Billions of dollars could be saved if everyone adopted the regimens that research showed were best and most cost-effective - which, experts say, happens far less often than most patients think.

The problem is that any move to push doctors and patients to make a particular choice collides with the American belief that medical decisions are nobody's business but the patient's and the doctor's. Least of all, the government's.

Also, because the research is based on statistical analyses and there are trade-offs in almost all medical choices, there's sometimes room to disagree about what constitutes the "best practice."

Yet scientists, medical-policy specialists and leading politicians are starting to embrace the idea of using cost-effectiveness research to drive individual medical decisions. They call it "comparative effectiveness" research, sidestepping a direct reference to costs.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of Illinois is calling for substantial investment in the idea. And Republican candidate John McCain is interested.

Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.

by Matthew Hay Brown

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has left Duke University Medical Center a week after undergoing surgery for a cancerous brain tumor.

"His doctors are pleased with his progress since surgery a week ago, and he will continue to recuperate at home before starting the next phase of his treatment," his office said in a statement. "He is thankful for the extraordinary care of the doctors and nurses at Duke, and also for the continued prayers and well wishes from the people of Massachusetts and all over the country."

The Massachusetts Democrat returns to Hyannisport, Mass., where he suffered the seizure last month that led doctors to diagnose him with a malignant glioma. His surgeon at Duke said today that Kennedy was making an "excellent recovery."

"He will continue his recuperation at home in Massachusetts under the supervision of the very capable doctors at the Massachusetts General Hospital," Allan Friedman said in a statement.

Kennedy's son said his father, who chairs of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, was eager to get back to work on legislation to provide universal health insurance.

"It adds a great deal of poignancy to his recovery," Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, told the Providence Journal on Sunday. "But that's how he sees it, he has to recover so he can get healthcare for the millions of people who don't have access to the care that we do."

Patrick Kennedy said his father wanted to begin work on the legislation this fall so that "it can be ready when Obama takes over in January."

by Bay Fang

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opened the 26th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this mornng with a sly joke that must have had gossip columnists momentarily salivating.

"There is a very important man in my life," she said, standing on a stage near the National Mall above a throng of tens of thousands of people wearing pink. "He is my personal trainer, Tom."

With that, she introduced Thomas Tomlo, who also acts as a fitness advisor to the Race for the Cure, who led participants in a warm-up stretch.

The cause, however, is no joke for Rice or the millions of others who run, walk or sleep in every year to raise money for breast cancer research and public health programs. Rice's mother, Angelena, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1969, and died in 1985.

Rice, who travels next week to Paris and the Middle East, shared the stage with Ambassador Nancy Brinker, a breast cancer survivor and founder of the Race for the Cure, Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon, and DC mayor Adrian Fenty. The event in DC, which has one of the highest breast cancer mortality rates in the US, drew nearly 50,000 people.

by David Nitkin

The economy and the Iraq War may be the top concerns of voters this election year, but the cost and availability of health care is close behind.

It's an issue regularly discussed on the campaign trail, and the next president is likely to seek significant changes in the way health care services are delivered and paid for.

Democrat Barack Obama advocates a universal health care program for children, and increased affordability for all. Republican John McCain wants to shift the tax treatment of health care premiums so that employers and the government are no longer the main providers of coverage. He wants to tap into free-market forces to drive prices down and encourage the uninsured to purchase private health insurance.

During the last major national health reform effort, in 1993 and 1994, many interest groups worked to thwart the efforts of then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and the Clinton administration. Notably, the Health Insurance Association of America developed the devastatingly effective "Harry and Louise" advertising and lobbying campaign, portraying a middle-aged couple worrying that the government was going to take over their health care.

This year, the association of private insurers is trying a different approach. They - and other groups of doctors, hospitals and think tanks - want to be part of the dialogue, earlier on today, America's Health Insurance Plans (formed in 2003 by a merger of HIAA and another group) released a study concluding that a series of sensible reforms could yield $145 billion in health cost savings by the year 2025.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy leaves Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Wednesday morning, May 21, 2008 with his wife, Vicki, right, and niece Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, center right. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

by Jill Zuckman

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy left Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston a few minutes after 10 a.m. today accompanied by his wife, children and niece, Caroline Kennedy. He was greeted by his two Portuguese water dogs, who were waiting outside.

A bandage on the back of his head was visible from the biopsy that was performed to reveal he has a malignant brain tumor. He got into his S.U.V., put his seat belt on and left for his home in Hyannis Port.

"Senator Kennedy has recovered remarkably quickly from his Monday procedure and therefore will be released from the hospital today ahead of schedule," said a statement from his doctors. "He will return to his home on Cape Cod while we await further test results and determine treatment plans. He's feeling well and eager to get started."

In an email to friends and family obtained by the Associated Press, Vicki Kennedy said the diagnosis had thrown them "a real curveball."

"Teddy is leading us all, as usual, with his calm approach to getting the best information possible," she wrote.

"He's also making me crazy (and making me laugh) by pushing to race in the Figawi this weekend," she wrote. The Figawi is an annual sailing race from Cape Cod to Nantucket.

by Jim Tankersley

PORTLAND, Ore. - A subdued but resolute Sen. Hillary Clinton returned to her signature issue and a long-debated contrast with Democratic rival Barack Obama in a brief Oregon campaign stop today.

Clinton used a trip to Doernbecher Children's Hospital, in the hills on the west bank of the Willamette River, to re-stake her campaign as a crusade for health care for all Americans - and to reframe the Democratic race as a choice between a candidate who will achieve universal coverage and one who won't even try.

"If you don't start in favor of universal health care, you're never going to get there," Clinton said at the outdoor hospital courtyard event. "How can anybody run to be the Democratic nominee for president and not have a universal health care plan? This is a huge difference."

The New York senator called universal coverage a moral and economic imperative for both children and adults, emphasizing a distinction between her plan and Obama's that she has highlighted for months with mixed results.

Clinton's plan would require all Americans to have health insurance. Obama's plan would mandate coverage for all children but not for all adults. The campaigns have clashed over how many people Obama would leave uninsured, and whether Clinton's mandate would truly result in universal coverage.

by Mark Silva

President Bush, releasing the 2008 National Drug Control Strategy today, says the report portrays "hopeful progress... in the fight against addiction.''

With a goal of cutting drug abuse among young people by 25 percent during his two terms, Bush says the administration has focused on interdiction "to keep drugs out of the United States,'' abuse-prevention and education and treatment for "those who've fallen prey.''

"These efforts have produced measurable results,'' he said today, in his weekly radio address. "Since 2001, the rate of youth drug abuse has dropped by 24 percent.''

Ecstasy is off 50 percent, methamphetamines off 64 percent, the report concludes.

Suggesting that the fight is shifting to the abuse of prescription pain-killers and other drugs, including those peddled on the Internet, Bush said: "I'm asking Congress to work with my administration to put an end to the illegal sale of highly addictive prescription drugs on the Internet. By working together to meet this goal, we can ensure a safer future for our children.''

See a summary of the White House report today: Download file

And see the president's address here:

By Matthew Hay Brown

A month ago, Congress voted for the second time this year for a $35 billion plan to extend and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. But still lacking a House majority large enough to override the veto promised by President Bush, the bill’s Democratic managers decided to hold onto it, in hope they could work out a compromise that would gain the necessary support.

Now, with the session winding down and still no deal, they’re going to send it to the White House.

“This legislation, of course, passed the House and Senate with broad bipartisan support, and we urge the President to sign it into law,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said in a statement released late Friday. “Our bipartisan discussions on extending health insurance to 10 million children are ongoing.”

The move is intended to make Bush act on the bill before Congress goes home for the year. The Constitution gives the president 10 working days to sign legislation or veto it. If he does nothing, it becomes law without his consent – unless Congress adjourns before the deadline. In that case, legislation that has not been signed or vetoed simply expires.

Congressional leaders are planning to return Monday for two more weeks before breaking for the year. That means it’s now or never for the bill supporters if they want to force presidential action this session.

by Mark Silva

President Bush will celebrate his administration’s commitment to the global fight against AIDS today at a church in Maryland – a symbolic setting for a program that places a lot of faith in the ability of faith-based organizations in Africa and other parts of the world to wage a battle against deadly diseases.

At the Calvary United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, Md., the president and First Lady Laura Bush – who traveled to Africa this year to showcase some of the administration’s work – will meet with members of local churches involved in the fight in AIDS-afflicted nations and faith-based organizations that are working in partnership with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR.)

Critics of the American campaign complain that it has placed too much emphasis on promoting abstinence and fidelity as ways of averting the spread of the HIV virus. Yet the Bush administration points to more than one billion condoms distributed since a program known as “ABC’’ – for Abstinence, Being Faithful and Condoms – since the president first proposed his global initiative in the 2003 State of the Union address.

While Congress has required that one-third of AIDS-prevention funding go toward the promotion of abstinence, prevention accounts for about one quarter of all the $15 billion that the U.S. has committed to the first five years of a program that includes testing for HIV and treatment of AIDS victims with antiretroviral drugs. Bush is asking Congress to double that commitment to $30 billion over the next five years.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today announced that it is supporting life-extending treatments for 1.4 million people living with AIDS and HIV – an 88 percent increase in the past year. The fund draws most of its money from the U.S. contribution.

The fund has delivered anti-TB drugs to 3.3 million and delivered 46 million insecticide-treated bed nets which serve in the prevention of the spread of malaria – that’s a 155 percent increase over last year’s distribution of 18 million nets.

by William Neikirk

Much of the political discussion about Social Security these days concerns how it might be rescued from insolvency. Rarely do you hear that the government's popular retirement program should be expanded.

But in some circles, particularly among those who call themselves progressives (or liberal, if you will), there is increasing talk about enlarging the Social Security program because of perceived inequities in tax-deferred retirement savings like 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

One such program was outlined Tuesday by Teresa Ghilarducci, a Notre Dame economics professor for the past 25 years, at an event sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. Like many others, she is concerned that the political discussion today is focused on cutting Social Security.

By Jim Tankersley

Gov. Rod Blagojevich found a warm reception for his plan to provide health care coverage to all Illinois residents this afternoon – not in Springfield, but in Washington.

The Democratic governor’s plan, which failed to pass the Democrat-controlled state Legislature this year, won raves from national labor leaders and a former presidential candidate at the National Press Club this afternoon. “Illinois Covered,” as the proposal is called, would extend coverage to the 1.4 million uninsured Illinois adults -- and reduce premiums for middle-income families and small businesses -- by assessing a payroll surcharge on businesses that don’t offer health benefits to their employees.

Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), a former House minority leader and presidential candidate, hailed the plan as a model for national universal health care – and the sort of plan that must start in the states, not Congress. The president of the international Laborer’s union, Terry O’Sullivan, called it “a blueprint for all other states to follow.” John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, said Blagojevich “has really taken a great stand here.”

by Mark Silva

Here's a cheerful note from the White House:

"Over half the families in America are not poor.''

That's a good glass half-full way of looking at the debate over health insurance for children. With the president having vetoed -- and having sustained that veto -- a bill offering health care to the children of families living at three times the federal poverty level, the White House maintains it is willing to find more money for health care for lower-income children.

Just not the middle class.

White House reaction to the failed veto override.

by William Neikirk

The House of Representatives refused to override President Bush’s veto of a bill that would have dramatically expanded a child’s health-care bill for children, handing Bush a legislative but perhaps not a political victory.

With the loss, Democrats had the challenge of coming up with an alternative would be acceptable to the White House or continuing the deadlock. One possible outcome could be an extension of the program for the next year without additional money or expanded coverage for children.

The vote was 273-156 in favor of the override, short of the required two-thirds vote.

by Matthew Hay Brown

And the kids keep coming.

First, there were Graeme and Gemma Frost, the Baltimore children who were hospitalized for months after a 2004 car crash, but who have been seen more recently in the company of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Then came Abby, Josh, Latoya and Kevin, all "vetoed" by President Bush, according to a television advertisement produced this month by liberal groups.

Now meet Bethany Wilkerson, the latest youngster enlisted by congressional Democrats or their allies to help build support for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Having suffered from heart failure as an infant, USAction says, the Florida toddler would not be alive today but for the government-funded program for moderate-income families not poor enough to qualifty for Medicaid.

Now Bethany is scheduled to speak at a Capitol Hill rally Tuesday evening, according to a release this morning by Americans United For Change.

by Matthew Hay Brown and David Nitkin

With the chances looking slim that Congress will be able to override President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program expansion this week, leaders on Capitol Hill and at the White House are bracing for a potentially bruising round of negotiations to keep current recipients covered.

The popular program for moderate-income families expires in mid-November, and both sides face pressure to reach a deal that maintains funding. But they remain far apart on the costs of a program that Democrats and some Republicans want to expand by millions of children and tens of billions of dollars.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says supporters already have compromised to win bipartisan backing in the House and Senate for the $35 billion expansion approved last month by Congress.

"What we did all agree on is that 10 million children would be covered," Pelosi told reporters last week. "With that as the starting point, we'd be happy to have any conversations, in my view, to insure the 10 million children."

Bush, who proposed a $5 billion expansion, has signaled a willingness to add more money to the program, but nowhere near the amount approved by Congress. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said any compromise would have to involve "a more rational children's health care program -- one that focuses more on poorer children."

See the rest of the story in today's Sun:

by Mark Silva

The pressure on Republican congressmen to either stand by their party's president or override President Bush on his veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program expansion this week is showing in districts across the country.

In Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm, pictured right, called on the Republican opponents of the measure in her state to stand with the children, not the president. She singled out Republican Reps. Mike Rogers of Brighton, Tim Walberg of Tipton, Joe Knollenberg of Bloomfield Hills and Pete Hoekstra of Holland.

With the measure that Bush has vetoed, and its price tag of $35 billion over five years, Michigan's governor says an additional 80,000 children could find health coverage in her state -- in addition to the 55,000 now covered by the program.

"Those who would vote against it are voting against insuring 80,000 uninsured children in Michigan. And that is a travesty," the governor told reporters last week.

Knollenberg, whose district covers Oakland County, complains that congressional leaders want to pay for the increase with a boost in tobacco taxes. And his office has let the governor's office know, in an email today, what it thinks about the pressure Granholm is applying.

"I voted to create the SCHIP program and support extending it to ensure that no kid receiving coverage today will lose it. But Speaker Pelosi has a bill that expands spending by $35 billion. To pay for the new spending, she raises taxes on tobacco products,'' Knollenberg, pictured right, says in a blog on his office Web-site. "But her financing package only works if 22 million new Americans begin smoking. I am against that. I think the government should be promoting wellness and healthy living, not encouraging more Americans to become smokers.

"Smoking stinks and so does the Pelosi health care bill!'' he says.

See the email his chief of staff, Trent Wisecup, sent to the governor's office today, with a link to the congressman's blog on the SCHIP debate:

Halsey and Bonnie Frost, in front of their Butchers Hill home in Baltimore, have come under fire from conservative commentators for promoting the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor .

by Matthew Hay Brown

BALTIMORE -- When Halsey and Bonnie Frost agreed to go public with how the State Children's Health Insurance Program helped them after a car crash left two of their children comatose, the Baltimore couple expected to hear from critics of government-funded health care.

But while the Frosts were helping a bipartisan majority in Congress sell a plan to expand the program, they were not prepared for comments such as this one, posted over the weekend on the conservative Web site Redstate:

"If federal funds were required [they] could die for all I care. Let the parents get second jobs, let their state foot the bill or let them seek help from private charities. ... I would hire a team of PIs and find out exactly how much their parents made and where they spent every nickel. Then I'd do everything possible to destroy their lives with that info."

So has begun the education of the Frosts, the young family of six who volunteered to advocate for the program for moderate-income families - the expansion has been approved by Congress but vetoed by President Bush - and now find themselves the focus of a nasty national debate.

The onslaught began over the weekend, a week after 12-year-old Graeme Frost delivered the Democrats' weekly radio address with a plea to Bush to sign the bill. A contributor to the conservative Web site Free Republic noted Graeme's enrollment in the private Park School and the sale of a smaller rowhouse on the Frosts' block for $485,000 this year and questioned whether the family should be taking advantage of the state program.

That post was picked up by the National Review Online and other Web sites. By Monday, Rush Limbaugh was discussing the family's earnings and assets on the air, and the blogger Michelle Malkin was writing about her visit to Halsey Frost's East Baltimore warehouse and her drive past the family's Butchers Hill rowhouse. Liberal bloggers, meanwhile, were complaining that the Frosts were being "swift-boated."

See the rest of the story in the Sun:

by Mark Silva

Rep. Adam Putnam, a Florida Republican, and Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, faced off today over the children's health care bill which President Bush has vetoed.

"The president's position is indefensible,'' Rangel, pictured below, said on CBS's Face the Nation. "If we're looking for a productive, educated future society we have to protect our young people.''

Putnam, left, pointing to the Democrat's interest in overriding the president's veto rather than seeking a compromise on a new health care bill, said: "He's more interested in playing political games than in compromising... It's games like this that is the reason why Congress has a 14 percent approval rating.''

For more, see the debate between Putnam and Rangel over a vetoed bill destined for an override attempt later this month:

by Frank James, updated at 11:15 am EST

In his new book about the Bush presidency entitled Dead Certain author Robert Draper chronicles, among other things, President Bush's rather intriguing choice two years ago to push for the privatizing of Social Security.

It's an effort which the president's veto of the children's health insurance program echoes, especially since Bush's actions, then like now, rallied his opponents in a way no Democratic leader could have on his or her own.

Draper writes how in early 2005, after having just lost the presidential election and losing ground in Congress, Democrats were at each other's throats and adrift, thoroughly crestfallen. Then the president unwittingly did them a favor.

by Mark Silva

"George Bush just vetoed Abby... And Josh,'' says the narrator of a cable TV ad, picturing children, which several groups will start airing next week. "He vetoed Latoya... And Kevin.''

In an attempt to rally support for an override of President Bush's veto of a popular children's health care bill, the ad will call on members of Congress to answer the question, "Do they stand with him?'' -- the president -- "or with them?'' -- the children.

"Americans United for Change'' is airing the ad, spending a claimed "signifcant six-figure'' budget on the spot on national cable networks, with financing from two big unions, AFSCME and SEIU, and MoveOn.org.

They are airing the ad produced by the firm of Democratic media strategist Frank Greer on Monday through the planned veto-override votes in the Senate and House on Oct. 18.

It's part of an attempt to convince at least 15 Republicans in the House to override the president's veto of a bill, the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, that won some bipartisan support in both chambers. The Senate is likely to override, leaders say.

With a campaign to mobilize calls to the offices of congressmen, they will be targeting specific members, including Rep. Tim Johnson (R-Ill.)

They say it's all part of a "multimillion-dollar field campaign'' to convince enough members of the House to "reverse course and stand up for the children in their districts without health coverage by voting to override the veto. '' They will announce it at a press conference today.

With sizeable votes on both sides, the Senate and House have approved a $35-billion, five-year plan to extend health insurance from the 6.6 million children already covered under SCHIP to another 4 million children in lower- and middle-income families, paying for the increase with tobacco taxes. The White House insists that the "poorest children'' should be covered first, before any "middle-class entitlement'' is allowed, and complains that the tobacco tax is a regressive way of paying for it. Bush vetoed the bill this week, and hopes to sustain that.

See the ad -- Download file
-- and read the script and producer's notes:

University of Miami Pediatrician, Dr. Gwen Wurm, does a checkup on Christina Brownlee, 5, as her father, Isaac Eady, holds her brother, Isaiah Eady, 1, on October 3, 2007 in Miami, Fla. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

by Frank James

President Bush made good on his threat to veto the $35 billion, five-year expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program or SCHIP.

He wielded his veto pen this morning before he headed out to an event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he was to talk about the budget and speak of his veto as good fiscal stewardship.

The president had warned lawmakers in recent weeks that he would veto the legislation because he said it spent much more than he thought it should on the popular program.

He also charged that the expansion would be more "federalization" of health care since the program as approved by Congress would grant eligibility to more higher-income, middle-class children.

The president's opposition to the renewal of the program has angered Democrats and Republicans alike, with Democrats repeatedly accusing the president of being willing to spend unlimited amounts on the Iraq War but of being stingy when it came to domestic priorities.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers who backed the legislation, especially in the Senate, charged the president with misrepresenting the bill that was finally approved, saying it was not excessive as the president claimed.

By Mark Silva

Children towing red wagons full of petitions have paraded in front of the White House.

Democratic leaders have handed a 12-year-old their national radio pulpit with a reply to President Bush's promised veto of legislation expanding a children's health insurance program.

And the party features the mother of a chronically ill child in automated "robo-calls" to voters in the districts of several Republican congressmen who are supporting the president in his opposition to a major expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

In the political battle over SCHIP, Democrats have distilled the argument over a $35 billion health-care bill to a simple question of children versus the president. The White House, insisting that Democrats are attempting to nationalize health care with a new "middle-class entitlement," insists the argument is far more complicated than the simple, emotion-laden appeal opponents are making.

Bush is expected, today, to veto the measure, which has broad support in both parties. Democrats appear slightly short of the votes to override the veto in the House. But they clearly smell political blood on the issue, with polls suggesting the public backs their position.

"There are just too darned many uninsured kids in America," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Tuesday. "The president's veto defines his presidency. This will be the third issue he has vetoed. . . . Our plan to bring the troops home, George Bush vetoed it . . . Our plan for stem cell research . . . George Bush vetoed it. And now a plan to . . . give children more of the protection they deserve . . . and George Bush is threatening a veto."

For more, see the Tribune's full report today:

by Mark Silva

With House passage of a children's health insurance bill that President Bush vows to veto, Congress is half-way there toward a volatile political showdown with the president.

The Senate, ready to approve the bill, could also hold enough votes to override a veto, though the president appears more likely to sustain his veto in the House.

Bush has called this veto-bound venture by Democratic leaders of Congress a political scoring of points -- which raises the question of how the veto of a bill promising health care for an estimated 3 million additional uninsured children will sit with the voting public.

"You can call what we’re doing whatever you want, but no matter how you cut it, the basic question the American people are going to ask is, were you with the children of this great nation or not?'' House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said last night after House passage of the bill.

“This is not ‘socialized medicine’ as our president has often said,'' Rangel said. "It is sound moral health policy and our country should not provide less.”

At an estimated cost of $35 billion over five years, the proposed extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program offers coverage for children whose families cannot afford private insurance or who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. It offers coverage for families earning up to three times the federal poverty level, about $62,000 for a family of four.

Under the current program in place since 1998, families earning up to twice the federal poverty level can qualify for coverage that is 75-percent federal and 25-percent state-financed.

House Republican Whip Ray Blunt of Missouri, supporting the Bush administration's argument that this expansion amounts to a "federalization'' of health care that will encourage some to leave private plans and enroll in government-funded insurance, boasted last night that Republicans had corralled enough votes against the bill to sustain the president's veto.

“If the majority intended to produce a bill ensuring the health and well-being of these children, we could have reauthorized the S-CHIP program months ago without a second thought,'' Blunt said. "Instead, Democratic leaders decided to take an uncontroversial children’s health bill and use it to advance a controversial bureaucrat-run health care scheme.''

by Mark Silva

It's not bad enough that congressional Democratic leaders want to "federalize'' health insurance for children -- the way that President Bush sees it.

They also want to care for the children of illegal immigrants -- the way that House Republican Leader John Boehner and staff read the State Children's Health Insurance Program that Democrats want to enact and which Bush has vowed to veto.

"Illegal immigrants are about to get an unexpected boost thanks to the Democratic Congress,'' Boehner (R-Ohio) warns. "The Democrats’ bill to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) not only provides health benefits to adults and upper-income kids, but it is crafted in a way to allow S-CHIP and Medicaid benefits for illegal immigrants who have broken our laws.''

The bill, Boehner maintains, "opens the door for S-CHIP and Medicaid benefits for illegal immigrants by substantially weakening a requirement that persons applying for such services show proof of citizenship or nationality.''

The Democrats say the bill requirse states to submit the names and Social Security numbers of applicants to the Social Security Administration (SSA), but the SSA commissioner has said this will not prevent legal and illegal aliens from qualifying for Medicaid and S-CHIP. (See the commissioner's letter: Download file)

Graphic: University of Vermont

by Mark Silva

In eight days, a federally and state-financed program that provides health care for millions of children whose families make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to purchase private health insurance will expire.

Democratic congressional leaders have agreed on an extention for the State Children's Health Insurance Program that could expand coverage to families earning up to three times the federal poverty level, about $62,000 a year for a family of four. The Democratic plan costs $35 billion over five years, compared with a $5 billion extension that the president supports.

President Bush vows to veto the Democratic plan -- though it also has drawn significant support among Republican members of Congress -- calling it a "federalization'' of health care.

Bush complains that Democrats are holding the program "hostage'' with its expiration looming. The president says they are trying to "score points'' with a bill which "they know will be vetoed.''

"Health coverage for these children should not be held hostage while political ads are being made and new polls are being taken,'' Bush said in his weekly radio address today. "Congress must pass a clean, temporary extension of the current S-CHIP program that I can sign by September 30th, the date the program expires.''

But Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, delivering his party's response to the president's radio address, insists that it is Bush who is playing politics with health care.

"In recent days the administration has tried to turn this into a partisan issue and has threatened to veto.'' Rendell said. "The health of our children is far too important for partisan politics as usual. A veto battle in Washington would expose millions of children to the risk of losing insurance.''

See the president's full address, and the full response:

Bush called the press conference to call on Congress to send him a "clean'' health care bill, vowing to veto any "federalization'' of health care. White House Photo by Eric Draper.

by Mark Silva

President Bush's promise Thursday to veto a major expansion of government-paid health care for millions of children reflects the political stakes in a newly potent health care debate that is beginning to shake up Congress and resonate through the 2008 presidential campaign.

Just days after Sen. Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) made a splash with her own health plan, Bush abruptly called a press conference to strike back against Democrats' assertions that he is indifferent to children's health needs. A Democratic plan for greatly expanding the pool of children eligible for government-financed health insurance, the president warned, would move the country toward nationalized health care.

"I believe this is a step toward federalization of health care," Bush told reporters in the White House press room. "Their proposal is beyond the scope of the program, and that's why I'm going to veto the bill."

The increasingly vocal fight over health care, in Washington and on the campaign trail, reflects the public's growing anxiety over the cost and availability of medical coverage. More than a decade after President Bill Clinton's health reforms died amid concerns they would limit patients' choices, some analysts believe the public is now willing to consider significant changes to the system.

See the rest of the story in today's Tribune:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks about health care, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007 in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

by Rick Pearson

DES MOINES, Iowa—Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton unveiled her plan for affordable health care on Monday, revisiting an issue that she says she's learned from since her plan for universal coverage collapsed during her tenure as First Lady in the early 1990s.

After a quick visit to Chicago to encourage support from the Laborers International Union, the New York senator traveled to Des Moines to unveil a plan that would mandate that all Americans have health insurance coverage either from their employer or through federal tax credits.

"We can no longer tolerate the injustice of a system that shuts out nearly one-in-six Americans," Clinton told an audience at the publicly funded Broadlawns Medical Center. "Ultimately, this is about who we are as a people and who we stand for."

By William Neikirk

The federal government's plan to respond to an influenza pandemic is itself ailing, according to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress.

The GAO's report had an infectious impact. Congressional critics from both parties had some heated responses. "Alarming," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). "We cannot afford to be unprepared," added Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.).

To prepare for a pandemic, the GAO said, the government needs to do much more, including expanded testing of its plan and coordinating actions between government agencies. And the Department of Homeland Security agreed with most of the report.

Davis said that experts have said that it is only a matter of time before a flu pandemic strikes the United States. "Hurricane Katrina taught us that key officials often didn't understand their roles and responsibilities, which hindered efforts to get help where it was needed most."

by David Lerman

Virginia Rep. J. Randy Forbes stepped into the cultural war over stem cell research on Thursday, offering legislation aimed at boosting research that does not involve the destruction of human embryos.

Forbes, a conservative Republican from Chesapeake, joined Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois in introducing a bipartisan bill that they said would build a case for greater use of adult stem cells.

The measure would require the Department of Health and Human Services to begin ``prioritizing research with the greatest potential for near-term clinical benefit in human patients.” And such an effort, they said, would mean greater research funding using adult stem cells instead of those derived from human embryos.

President Bush has blocked federal funding for most embryonic stem cell research, saying he could not sanction the destruction of embryos for scientific research. Research on some existing stem cell lines was allowed to proceed.

By William Neikirk

Dennis Hastert may have lost his job as speaker of the House in last fall's congressional elections, but he hasn't lost his love for combat.

The Illinois Republican came out swinging against a proposed expansion of a children's health-care program in the House Energy and Commerce Committee today. He called it "reckless" and said Democrats did not appear ready to work with the GOP on the legislation.

by Mark Silva

Now comes further proof that smoking is a matter of minority rights.

This may help explain why it's so easy for states to enact smoking bans, like the one which the Illinois governor has signed into law prohibiting smoking in public places in the new year. It's good politics, playing to the majority which cares about the quality of the environment and public health, over the objections of that minority in search of a light at the Dew Drop Inn.

The percentage of people who admit to smoking has reached its lowest point in two generations, a 60-year low of 21 percent, according to the latest Gallup Poll. The vast majority of smokers also are telling pollsters they really want to quit, but can't kick the habit.
.

by Frank James

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow today rejected charges made by former Surgeon General Anthony Carmona yesterday in testimony before a House committee that Bush Administration officials repeatedly put politics over science, making Carmona toe the ideological line.

The main White House talking point on Carmona is that they're "disappointed" Carmona didn't speak his mind. For instance, today Snow said:

It's disappointing if he did not use his position to do what -- to advocate what he thought were the proper policies. But on the other hand, he is somebody who worked for administration."

Yesterday, White House's deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said:

"It's disappointing to us if he failed to use his position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation."

It's probably just as true that the White House is disappointed Carmona is speaking his mind now.

Here's the complete exchange Snow had with a reporter about Carmona:

REPORTER: If my colleagues will permit me to change the subject, yesterday, the former surgeon general, Dr. Carmona, gave very damning testimony on Capitol Hill in which he said the administration would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education or prison and mental health and global health issues. He was instructed to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches, et cetera.

Why was he given these instructions? Who gave them?

MR. SNOW: I'm not sure.

by Frank James

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore was in Washington today hyping his new movie "Sicko" about the problems with the U.S. health-care system. He appeared at the liberal Take Back America conference and on Capitol Hill surrounded by members of Congress at a press event.

Moore's thumbnail take on the problem is that the high cost of health care and lack of access are caused by profit-driven health-care executives who jettison the sick from insurance plans in order to keep corporate profits high.

According to Moore, they don't do it because they're greedy necessarily. They do it because corporate governance laws force them to maximize profits; they could wind up in jail if they didn't.

That's what he actually said; I'm not making this up. It's a simple yet intriguing plot line that doesn't capture all the complexity of what's actually happening. And the business about executives having to maximize profits or being put in jail isn't even true.

But then Moore is a movie maker, not an economist.

By Frank James

Quick, who’s the surgeon-general?

The answer is no one. The last holder of the office, Dr. Richard Carmona, quit last year. He evidently longed for his home in Arizona and wasn’t happy about the way politics sometimes elbowed out science in policy discussions in Washington.

Enter Dr. James Holsinger of Kentucky who President Bush nominated last month to fill the post that’s been vacant since last summer. Holsinger has a distinguished record. A University of Kentucky professor, he is a former chancellor of the university's medical center. He was also Kentucky's secretary for health and family Services.

by Frank James

Tribune broadcast reporter Grant Rampy put together a very good package on yesterday's congressional hearings on the TB-infected Atlanta lawyer which we post for anyone who missed Wednesday's developments.

Does anyone know if these face masks that TB patient Andrew Speaker the lawyer and his wife wear in this segment, the ones that make them look like a cross between a human and platypus are supposed to be better than the more traditional ones? Does the airspace make it easier to breathe?

Posted by Frank James at 10:27 am CDT

Posted by John McCormick at 10:10 am CDT, updated 2:30 pm CDT.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama today pledged he would provide access to health insurance for all Americans by lowering costs, improving technology and rolling back tax cuts for some.

"To help pay for this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don’t make a meaningful contribution today to the health coverage of their employees to do so," Obama said. "And we will allow the temporary Bush tax cut for the wealthiest Americans to expire."

But Obama stopped short of mandating that all Americans be required to have insurance, much like states do with drivers. While he would require coverage for children, adults would be allowed to buy into a federal program, with rates based on their income.

Leaving that option open makes his plan fall short of true universal coverage and likely would leave many still without insurance, according to some experts.

Posted by William Neikirk at 1 p.m. CDT

Bill Thomas has found a job.

You remember him? Once he was a household name in this town. California Republican big-wig, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, a suffer-no-fools-gladly, take-no-prisoners kind of guy who helped get Bush's tax cuts passed.

He wasn't the most liked member of Congress, but he got things done. Now he's going to have to make nice to the members as a lobbyist.

(Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza)

Posted by Pete Souza at 12:24 pm CDT

Iraq war veteran and former congressional candidate, Tammy Duckworth, now director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, testifies before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee during an oversight hearing on VA-DoD cooperation in health care issues March 27, 2007 on Capitol Hill.

Next to Duckworth is retired Army Capt. Jonathan D. Pruden and Denise Mettie, mother of Evan Mettie, who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 2:10 pm CST

The two-star Army general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center was relieved of command today as criticism mounted from Democratic lawmakers over revelations that soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were housed among mice, mold, rot and cockroaches.

The Washington Post, which last week first disclosed conditions in a dingy former hotel used to house outpatients wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families, reported earlier in the day that the hospital’s command had been aware of the substandard conditions for more than three years.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of Illinois denounced the episode as “scandalous” as he introduced legislation to require improvements in military outpatient housing and outside inspections of facilities for wounded soldiers.

“The higher-ups in charge of this should have addressed this, and the fact that they didn’t is shameful,” Obama said.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 11:35 am CST, updated at 1:10 pm CST

Spotted, waiting to meet with presidential candidate Barack Obama, at the Illinois senator's office in the Hart Senate Office Building: Bono of the band U2.

Update: Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Obama, said the two met for about a half hour in the senator's personal office to discuss the ONE Campaign, a non-profit organization that the Irish rock star helped form to combat AIDS and global poverty.

"Bono was making rounds on the Hill to build support for the ONE campaign. He particularly wanted to meet with Senator Obama since he’s a member of the Foreign Relations Committee – and has been active on international poverty and global health issues," LaBolt said.

LaBolt said the two did not discuss particular programs or legislation but "had a general discussion about how foreign assistance to the right programs (anti-poverty, global health) can boost our security and the standing of the U.S. around the world."

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:12 p.m. CST, updated at 2:30 p.m. CST

Two health-care experts expressed doubt that universal health-care coverage could be adopted and put into effect during the first term of the next president, as Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) predicted today.

Economist Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution, a think tank with a liberal leaning, and health-care expert Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation, a think tank with a conservative leaning, both said such a task would be enormously difficult.

Butler, who has studied America's health-care system for 30 years, said he supports universal coverage, but that the current system would require drastic overhaul and that the "costs would be staggering."

Posted by Mike Dorning at 9:55 am CST.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) committed this morning to working to achieve health coverage for all Americans by 2012, whether or not he is elected president.

"I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president we should have universal health care in this country. There's no reason we shouldn't have that," Obama said this morning in a speech to the liberal health advocacy group Families USA.

Obama, who announced a presidential exploratory committee last week, told reporters after the speech that he would release a plan for universal health care within "several months" and that the goal was "a top priority" for him.

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:06 am, updated 10:15 am and 5:35 pm CST

President Bush wants to talk about more than the war in Iraq in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. He wants to talk about health care -- and probably will talk about global warming, too.

The president plans to spell out a new health-care initiative with his address: A tax deduction for money spent on health insurance, much like the deduction that homeowners take for the interest paid on mortgages.

This, the president says, could be a way to get coverage for more of the nearly 50 million Americans who lack health insurance, without creating a new government health care program.

Bush provided a preview with his weekly radio address today: "The current tax code encourages home ownership by allowing you to deduct the interest on your mortgage from your taxes. We can reform the tax code, so that it provides a similar incentive for you to buy health insurance. ''

And the White House this evening rolled out a rough outline of what the president will propose. See it first here:

Posted by Pete Souza at 7:58 am CST

Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza

Katiwe is a 10-year-old girl who lives with her aunt, Hlengiwe Leocardia "Leo" Mchunu, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Both of Katiwe's parents have died of AIDS. Read the tragic, but heartwarming story about how Leo is fighting back against the disease that has wreaked havoc in her family. And for a look at Pete Souza's photos, please see this slide show.

Posted by Frank James at 9:37 am CDT

From David Lightman and Mark Pazniokas of the Hartford Courant...

September 21 2006

"I have long supported the goal of universal health care," Lieberman told reporters. "Ned Lamont can talk about it. I've been doing something about it all the time I've been here."

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 8:39 am CDT

KISUMU, Kenya -- Michelle Obama joined her husband, Sen. Barack Obama, in taking an HIV test here today as thousands of jubuliant admirers cheered the mere sight of the man they have come to adore.

After their caravan barreled through town, the Obamas toured a medical clinic before walking up the steps into a mobile AIDS testing center. They took the test together, they said, to encourage African men and women to also be tested for the disease that effects about 15 percent of the people here.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, August 16, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush tours the Harley-Davidson plant in York, Pa., participates in a discussion on the economy there and then campaigns for Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann.

The Labor Department releases the Consumer Price Index for July. 7:30 a.m.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, August 7, as compiled by the Associated Press.

9 a.m. NURSING HOMES-REPORT — Consumer Reports holds news conference on its Nursing Home Quality Monitor, a national database of facilities to choose -- or avoid.
Location: Kaiser Family Foundation, 1330 G St. NW


1 p.m. WORKING WOMEN SURVEY — AFL-CIO teleconference to release preliminary results of biannual ``Ask a Working Woman’’ survey of 20,000 women. Participants include Linda Chavez-Thompson, exec-vice president of AFL-CIO, and Meagan Jeronimo, a working mother from Houston.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, July 14, as gathered by the Associated Press.

President Bush is departing Germany and headed to St. Petersburg, Russia for the G-8 meeting.

July 12 - 15. WORLD CONFERENCE ON TOBACCO OR HEALTH — Three-day convention on building a tobacco-free world. Workshops and session on tobacco control and regulation, the human cost of tobacco, smoking prevention, and the tobacco industry.
10:15 a.m. The Smoke Free Movies Action Network announces a parents’ guide to focus attention on the depiction of smoking in films and the impact on youth. Room 141. Event contact: Jenni Brewer, 703-741-7047.
Location: Washington Convention Center, Mt. Vernon Square.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, June 14, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is scheduled to meet with the President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia in the morning and in the evening is hosting the annual congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House.

The House Energy Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is holding a hearing on NIH research policies regarding human tissue samples at 10 a.m.

Good Morning.

Here are some Washington events of note for Friday, May 12, as compiled by the Associated Press.

The American Red Cross continues its national convention with speakers including first lady Laura Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff.

The Minuteman Project holds a rally to stop the ``Guest Worker’’ program. Participants include founder Jim Gilchrist. 11 a.m.

Posted by Frank James at 12:46 pm CST

I went to this morning’s press conference at the National Press Club on hearing-loss concerns related to the use of portable media players like iPods as well as CD and DVD devices.

The American Speech-Language Hearing Association which held the press conference released a survey whose implications are very troubling. The poll by Zogby International found that significant percentages of the high schoolers surveyed reported signs of hearing loss.