Obama’s Health-Care Push Challenged By Business Group (Update1)
March 10, 2010, 12:07 PM EST(Adds comments from WellPoint, Sebelius at end of story.)
By Kristin Jensen and James Rowley
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is facing a renewed push against his health-care legislation as a coalition of business groups plans to spend as much as $1 million a day on advertisements to pressure lawmakers into opposing the bill.
The campaign will last about 10 days and cost between $4 million and $10 million, said Bruce Josten, the top lobbyist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is helping lead the effort. The ads will start on national cable television and run in 17 states, Josten told reporters on a conference call.
Business groups say the Democratic legislation will hurt companies by adding new taxes and requirements, while failing to control medical costs. Josten said the ads are targeting House Democrats who voted “no” on the original legislation or voted “yes with reluctance.”
“We don’t believe Washington got the message, so we’re calling on viewers to tell Congress to stop this bill,” Josten said yesterday. The spot, called “Afford,” says the legislation will make a “tough economy worse.”
The 248 groups in the coalition include members of the manufacturing, construction and health-insurance industries, Josten said. Insurers have come under fire from Obama, who is to travel to the St. Louis area today to speak about the legislation and unveil new steps to crack down on waste and fraud in the Medicare program for the elderly.
Rallying Support
The White House said Obama plans to give private auditors incentives to find improper payments, potentially saving the government $2 billion over the next three years.
Obama is trying to rally public support for the biggest changes to U.S. health care in 45 years. Republicans are united against his efforts, and the votes of many Democrats are in question as polls show opposition to the legislation.
At stake is a plan that would give insurers such as Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. millions of new customers while requiring them to accept all who seek coverage. Americans would also have to buy insurance, with new purchasing exchanges and government aid to help.
Obama’s plan relies mostly on a Senate bill passed in December. He’s pressing House Democrats to approve that bill while passing another measure that would make negotiated changes. The changes would be passed under a budget procedure called reconciliation that would require a simple majority vote in the Democratic-controlled, 100-member Senate, rather than the 60 that often is needed for major legislation.
Deadlines in Question
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs yesterday reiterated a target for the House vote of March 18. Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, shrugged off that idea.
“None of us have ever mentioned the 18th other than Mr. Gibbs,” Hoyer told reporters. He added that getting work done before Congress leaves for a two-week recess on March 26 is the “objective, not a deadline.”
Congressional leaders have asked the Senate Budget Committee to be “ready next week” to act, said North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad, the Democratic chairman of the panel. Lawmakers have sent various provisions to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for review, he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said congressional leaders may release the outlines of proposed changes to the Senate bill as early as today. The timing depends on getting a review back from the CBO, she said during an interview on “The Charlie Rose Show.”
Will Be ‘Fine’
Democrats are facing increasing pressure on all sides. Hundreds of demonstrators yesterday came to Washington to push for a health-care bill. Meanwhile, organizers of the anti- overhaul Tea Party groups said they plan to pressure lawmakers with a March 16 “Take the Town Halls to Washington” project.
Insurers say that the proposed penalties for people who don’t get insurance are too weak in the Senate bill and will result in higher premiums as companies try to make up for losses. WellPoint’s plan to raise rates for some California customers by 39 percent is just a “preview” of what’s to come, WellPoint Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt said today.
Insurers Respond
Obama has criticized WellPoint for the planned increase repeatedly in recent weeks. The insurance industry’s Washington trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, is running a new advertising campaign in response, saying that insurance costs are one of the “smallest slices” of health-care spending driven largely by doctors, hospitals and treatment expenses.
The argument didn’t pass muster with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who spoke to the group’s policy meeting in Washington today.
“You can choose to take the millions of dollars you have stored away for your next round of ads to kill meaningful reform, and use them to start giving Americans some relief from their skyrocketing premiums,” she said, according to excerpts released by the White House.
She told reporters afterward she thought her speech went well, saying she had “no visible bruises.”
--With assistance from Nicole Gaouette, Laura Litvan, Jonathan Salant, Edwin Chen and Catherine Dodge in Washington, and Alex Nussbaum in New York. Editors: Robin Meszoly, Mark McQuillan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Kirk at jkirk12@bloomberg.net;
