Health care deal on the table...the battle begins....

Health care costs in this country coincides hand in hand with the economy. I always said that for President Obama, the hardest task would be to reconstruct the health care industry in this country, one area that will go down to the tooth and nail. Remember, if health care reform is not passed in this country, don't blame D.C., blame us, the people for not putting the pressure on congress to pass this critical legislation that effects us all. All eyes should be on congress, RIGHT NOW.

In conjunction with the White House, a host of trade associations, pharmaceutical groups and other stakeholders in the health care debate are set to announce a major effort to streamline the nation's health care system that could save more than $2 trillion over the next decade.

On Monday representatives of the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association; PhRMA; AdvaMed; America's Health Insurance Plans, the SEIU, and the Greater New York Hospital Association and the California Hospital Association will make what White House officials and industry insiders describe as a major announcement on the health care reform front. The coalition of somewhat strange-bedfellows, comprising some of the sharpest opponents of reform in the past, is targeting specific administrative changes to drastically reduce the rate of growth in health care spending. All told, the goal will be to reduce the money spent on health care by 1.5 percentage points each year over the next ten years.

"We cannot continue down the same dangerous road we've been traveling for so many years, with costs that are out of control, because reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait," President Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks released in advance by the White House.

On a Sunday conference call, senior administration officials hailed the effort as "a game changer" in the health care debate. "I don't think there can be a more significant step to helping struggling families and to help the federal budget," said one aide. "It just makes it even clearer than ever that health reform is going to happen this year in the Congress," added another. read more here....

The Fight Begins to Scare Americans for Health Care Reform

The television ads that began airing last week feature horror stories from Canada and the United Kingdom: Patients who allegedly suffered long waits for surgeries, couldn't get the drugs they needed, or had to come to the United States for treatment.

"Before government rushes to overhaul health care, listen to those who already have government-run health care," intones Rick Scott, founder of a group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights. "Tell Congress to listen, too."

Scott, a multimillionaire investor and controversial former hospital chief executive, has become an unlikely and prominent leader of the opposition to health-care reform plans that Congress is expected to take up later this year. While disorganized Republicans and major health-care companies wait for President Obama and Democratic leaders to reveal the details of their plan before criticizing it, Scott is using $5 million of his own money and up to $15 million more from supporters to try to build resistance to any government-run program.

The campaign is being coordinated by CRC Public Relations, the group that masterminded the "Swift boat" attacks against 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, and is inspired by the "Harry and Louise" ads that helped torpedo health-care reform during the Clinton administration. read more here.....

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