Posts in the category News

ProgressOhio Calls On ORP To Distance Themselves From Bully Behavior

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:51:24 EDT

ORP Deputy Communications Director Was At Tea Party Rally Where Parkinson's Victim was Mocked

COLUMBUS - Ohio Republican Party Deputy Communications Director Megan Zaffini was at the Tea Party Rally on Monday that resulted in the bullying of a health care supporter with Parkinson's disease.

Rather than intervene, it appears Ms. Zaffini took pictures with her cell phone and tweeted excitedly about the event.

Yesterday, shocking video taken by a Columbus Dispatch reporter Doral Chenoweth made national news, showing Tea Party protestors mocking a seated counter-protestor with a sign indicating he has Parkinson's disease. They then proceed to hurl wadded up bills at him shouting, "I'll decide when to give you money!"

Watch It:

Yesterday on Hardball with Chris Matthews, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence denounced the mob mentality on display in the video.

"Kevin DeWine and the Ohio Republican Party need to denounce this behavior as Rep. Pence did yesterday," said Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director of ProgressOhio.

"ORP and any other political operatives should feel a duty to either stop such actions on site or denounce them. Ms. Zaffini instead took pictures and tweeted while a Parkinson's patient was bullied and berated, which is shameful."

Transcript:
Narrator: At one point a man who's sign said he has Parkinson's sat down in front of health care opponents.
Tea Partier #1: You're looking for a hand-out, you're in the wrong end of town. Nothing for free over here, you have to work for everything you get.
Tea Partier #2: I'll pay for this guy. Here you go. Start a pot. [Drops dollar bill on man, turns around, then walks back. Bends over, repeatedly jabs finger at man.] I'll decide when to give you money! Here's another one, here you go. [Throws wadded up bill at man.]
Crowd: You love a communist.
Tea Partier #2: No more hand-outs!

Full video from The Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/multimedia/video/video.html?video=949486

CBO: Health Care Reform Bill: "Biggest Deficit Reduction Measure In 25 Years"

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:17:27 EDT

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Democrats' revised health care bill will cost $940 billion over the next 10 years, a House Democratic source told CNN Thursday.

The bill cuts the deficit by $130 billion during that period of time, according to the source.

Ezra Klein notes that this means “more deficit reduction than either the House or Senate bill, and more coverage than the Senate bill.”

It cuts the deficit by $1.2 trillion in the second ten years.

It reduces annual growth in Medicare expenditures by 1.4 percentage points per year.

Expands coverage to 32 million Americans.

A third Dem source exults that this is the “biggest deficit reduction measure in 25 years, since the 1993 Clinton budget.”

As Boehner Fails to Block Health Vote, Pelosi Releases Benefits Of Reform Report For Minority Leader's District

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:35:57 EDT

Yesterday, the Energy and Commerce Committee released an analysis on the impact of the new health insurance reform legislation on families, small businesses, seniors in Medicare, health care providers, and the uninsured in each of the 435 Congressional districts.

For instance, in Minority Leader Boehner’s district in Ohio, the legislation will:

Improve coverage for 427,000 residents with health insurance.

Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 161,000 families and 11,600 small businesses to help them afford coverage.

Improve Medicare for 99,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.

Extend coverage to 29,500 uninsured residents.

Guarantee that 8,800 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.

Protect 1,400 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

Allow 54,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.

Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 10 community health centers.

Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $28 million annually.

See how reform will impact your community»

Information on data sources»

Congressman Pence Calls Ohio Teabaggers "Despicable" For Mocking Man With Parkinson's

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:43:37 EDT

Based upon the shocking video from The Columbus Dispatch we reported on yesterday and again this morning, the Teabaggers protesting at Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy's district office in Columbus yesterday were denounced by Congressman Mike Pence, House Republican Conference Chair.

Congressman Pence Calls Columbus Teabaggers "Despicable" For Mocking Man With Parkinson's

Watch It:

Gov. Strickland Signs HB 10

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:39:21 EDT

ODVN board member Bridget Mahoney, ODVN Executive Director Nancy Neylon,
Gov. Ted Strickland,and Johanna Oroczo, a Cleveland resident who still recovering
from a 2007 shotgun blast to the face from her ex-boyfriend.

Gov. Ted Strickland signed a new law that gives juvenile judges new tools to protect teens.

House Bill 10 authorizes juvenile court judges to issue and enforce protection orders defending one minor from another when one has been accused of committing felonious or aggravated assault, menacing by stalking, a sex crime, or a similar offense. It takes effect in 90 days.

The bill enjoyed strong backing from ODVN and from Johanna Orozco, a Cleveland woman shot in the face by her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend , Juan Ruiz. After she pressed charges against him for rape, he stalked her, then shot her outside of her home. Police told Johanna she could not get a protection order because the law does not allow them for minors.

Ruiz is serving a 27-year prison sentence.

Johanna , who appeared at the bill signing, credited the governor with helping the bill clear its final hurdles.

We've Got Your Back, Rep. Boccieri! VOTE YES Rally in Canton

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:42:32 EDT

An up-or-down vote on HEALTH CARE REFORM will come down to just a few votes, and CONGRESSMAN JOHN BOCCIERI could be the deciding vote - he needs to hear from you!

Join us as we rally in Canton, letting Rep. Boccieri know YOU support a YES vote on health care reform!

    WHEN: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 4pm - 5pm

    WHERE: Office of Congressman Boccieri, 300 W Tuscarawas Street, Canton, OH 44702

    RSVP: Click here to let us know you're coming

Can't come to the rally?

Click here to call Rep. Boccieri's office or send a message to Rep. Boccieri online. We'll compile all the written responses and get them to Rep. Boccieri's office before the vote.

This legislation will make health care affordable for the middle class, provide security for seniors, and guarantee access to health insurance for the uninsured - while reducing the federal deficit by over $100 billion over the next decade.

Here are the benefits of the legislation specifically for Ohio's 16th Congressional District:

Improve coverage for 414,000 residents with health insurance.
Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 167,000 families and 13,200 small businesses to help them afford coverage.
Improve Medicare for 111,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.
Extend coverage to 38,500 uninsured residents.
Guarantee that 9,800 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.
Protect 1,700 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.
Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $56 million annually.

Thank You, Rep. Kucinich, For Doing The Right Thing!

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:29:14 EDT

You may have heard the good news by now - Congressman Dennis Kucinich has announced that while he still has reservations about the bill, he will vote YES on the upcoming health care reform vote!

His vote may be the vote that makes the difference and brings us another step toward victory.

Click here to say thank you

Like many of us, Rep. Kucinich would like to see more far-reaching reform than the legislation that is currently on the table. But as he said in his statement today, ""I know I have to make a decision not on the bill as I would like to see it, but as it is." He pointed out that the bill will bring health care to 31 million Americans, noting that it would help many in his district.

We've set up several ways you can say THANK YOU to Representative Kucinich for doing the right thing.

RALLY

This will be a rally/honk and wave, then participants will walk to Kucinich's district office to thank him.
WHEN: Thursday, March 18, 11 AM
WHERE: Intersection of Ridge Rd and W. Ridgewood Dr, Parma, OH 44129
RSVP: Click here to let us know you're coming

CALL

Call Rep. Kucinich's office to say thank you.
Click here for the phone number and other information, and to let us know you've made the call.

WRITE

Write an online thank you note to Rep. Kucinich.
Click here to get started.

Like Rep. Kucinich, we know the bill is not everything we would like it to be, but it will:

Stop insurance company abuses like denying care for pre-existing conditions
Give your family and small business tax credits to afford good coverage
Cover 31 million more people and save over 30,000 lives per year
Kucinich's announcement today is great news for all of us.

Please join us as we say THANK YOU to Rep. Kucinich for taking us another step closer to quality, affordable health care for all Americans!

A Bull Connor Moment in Ohio's Health Care Debate?

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:24:50 EDT

Ohio Tea Partiers Mock, Throw Things at Parkinson's Victim.

COLUMBUS - In a scene reminiscent of non-violent civil rights confrontations from the 1960s, Ohio Tea Partiers quickly turned ugly when facing off with health care advocates in front of Ohio Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy's office Tuesday.

In shocking video taken by a Columbus Dispatch reporter Doral Chenowith yesterday, Tea Party protestors mock a seated counter-protestor with a sign indicating he has Parkinson's disease. They then proceed to hurl wadded up bills at him shouting, "I'll decide when to give you money!"

Watch It:

Tea Partiers Mock Apparent Parkinson's Victim from Progress Ohio on Vimeo.

"This has gone way too far," said Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director of ProgressOhio.

"All of these candidates that pander to the Tea Party, whether it is Steve Stivers, John Kasich or national leaders like John Boehner, need to disavow the behavior these bullies exhibited in the video."

Transcript:
Narrator: At one point a man who's sign said he has Parkinson's sat down in front of health care opponents.

Tea Partier #1: You're looking for a hand-out, you're in the wrong end of town. Nothing for free over here, you have to work for everything you get.

Tea Partier #2: I'll pay for this guy. Here you go. Start a pot. [Drops dollar bill on man, turns around, then walks back. Bends over, repeatedly jabs finger at man.] I'll decide when to give you money! Here's another one, here you go. [Throws wadded up bill at man.]

Crowd: You love a communist.

Tea Partier #2: No more hand-outs!

Representative Zack Space: Keep standing up for us, not the insurance companies

User from Washington, DC — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:22:31 EDT

The health reform vote is coming in the House. Representative Zack Space (OH-18) needs to keep standing up for us, not the insurance companies.

In Space's district, the House's improvements to the Senate health reform bill will [pdf]:

Improve coverage for 356,000 residents with health insurance.

Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 183,000 families and 11,700 small businesses to help them afford coverage.

Improve Medicare for 111,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.

Extend coverage to 59,500 uninsured residents.

Guarantee that 12,300 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.

Protect 1,400 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

Allow 49,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents' insurance plans.

Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 8 community health centers.

Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $57 million annually.

A vote for health reform is a vote to stand with these people. A vote against health reform is a vote for the status quo, where insurance companies make record profits by raising rates by double digits (40% in Ohio in the last few months) and dropping millions of customers from their rolls.

The House may vote on health reform as early as this weekend. When the vote comes, Representative Space has a chance to show us that he's still on our side.

Click here to call Representative Space and everyone else in the House and tell them to vote YES on health reform.

I'm proud to work for Health Care for America Now

Budget Committee Republicans Including Austria, Latta, and Jordan Vote Against Protecting Seniors, Consumers and Small Businesses

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:32:49 EDT

The House Budget Committee passed reconciliation legislation to move comprehensive health insurance reform forward. During the markup, Democrats offered a number of motions to protect seniors, consumers and small businesses.

Ohio Republicans Jordan, Latta, and Austria, who serve on the Budget Committee, specifically opposed these provisions:

Shocking Dispatch Video: Tea Partiers Mock And Scorn Apparent Parkinson's Victim

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:40:30 EDT

Video shot by the Columbus Dispatch from today's Honk and Wave in Support of Health Care at Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy's district office contains a segment wherein the teabaggers mock and scorn an apparent Parkinsen's victim telling him "he's in the wrong end of town to ask for handouts", calling him a communist and throwing money at him to "pay for his health care".

Watch it:

The segment starts at 51 seconds into the video . . .

Senator Sherrod Brown: Thoughts from Air Force One

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:08:37 EDT

I was honored to join President Obama for a rally in Ohio yesterday. He made his case about why we need to pass health insurance reform as soon as possible, and I couldn't agree more.

On the flight back to Washington aboard Air Force One, I thought about how the same community center in Strongsville where the President spoke was a site for my mobile office when I served in the House. Ohioans would come to share their stories about the problems they confronted trying to get affordable health care, or navigating the hopelessly tangled insurance system.

We've been debating this issue for generations. We've seen the situation only worsen over the past decade. We've been debating this bill for over a year. Good ideas from both sides of the aisle have been incorporated into our reform plan, and now it's time to give it the up-or-down vote it deserves.

We cannot wait. Ohio families and small businesses cannot afford to wait.

As I listened to the President speak yesterday, I looked from face to face in the audience, and it struck me -- we're closer than ever to passing real reform. For Ohioans and Americans suffering under the status quo, relief cannot come soon enough.

The time has come. We must finish this job. The American people have been waiting decades for real reform, and it's long past time we delivered.

I'm so grateful for all your support and hard work throughout this process. Thanks for all you do, for Ohio and our country.

Sincerely,

-Sherrod

Global Boiling: Freak Storms On Every Continent

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:27:53 EDT

Record warmth on sea and land is fueling killer weather around the globe. As man takes over from nature as the primary driver of climate, the need to eliminate global warming pollution and mobilize for increased climate disruption grows.

NORTH AMERICA Weeks after some of the strongest snowstorms ever to hit the East Coast, another powerful winter storm drenches the Northeast, kills eight people, and knocks out power for hundreds of thousands. Record warmth in North Dakota and Minnesota threatens another year of catastrophic flooding.
SOUTH AMERICA Tropical Storm 90Q, also known as Anita, the “second known tropical cyclone to form in the cooler South Atlantic Ocean,” is circling off the Argentina coast. The first known South Atlantic tropical cyclone, Catarina, was in 2004.
EUROPE “Hurricane-force winds and widespread flooding battered vast swathes of western France and left more than a million homes without power,” as the storm named Xynthia “killed at least 62 people across western Europe” in Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, and Germany en route to Scandinavia.
AFRICA The death toll has risen to 36 people “and nearly 38,000 left homeless when tropical storm Hubert smashed into Madagascar this week.” Last month, stormy weather wreaked havoc across Egypt, as twenty-foot waves crashed into Alexandria and a hail storm killed four people in Cairo.
ASIA “A severe sandstorm hit Xinjiang’s Hotan Prefecture in northwest China on Friday, reducing visibility to zero.” The sandstorms are sweeping across China, and “are expected to hit Taiwan Tuesday.”
AUSTRALIA-PACIFIC Tomas, a Category Four cyclone, isplowing through Fiji, forcing thousands to evacuate. A “beast of a storm” ripped through Melbourne, Australia last week, “bringing with it hailstones the size of tennis balls” and causing $200 million in damage. Meanwhile flooding “which has smashed all the records known” in Queensland peaked in the country’s northeast, “parts of which have been in drought for almost a decade.” Category Four cyclone Ului now hovers off the Australian coast after the Solomon Islands narrowly escaped its wrath.
ANTARCTICA Okay, so Antarctica has enjoyed a sunny and balmy summer. Unfortunately, with the pleasant skies have come accelerated melting of the ice shelves, causing sea levels to rise, the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey have found.

Instead of confronting this threat, however, America’s politicians are crying that limits on this deadly pollution could hurt the economy.

http://progressearth.blogspot.com/

Video: Teabaggers And Reform Supporters Clash At Rep. Kilroy's District Office

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:28:49 EDT

A Honk & Wave for Rep. Kilroy and Health Care Reform held today was attended by the Tea Party crowd.

View Larger Images Here

They were easily overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the many, many supporters of Congresswoman Kilroy and the forthcoming passage of health care reform.

Here's raw video from today.

Watch It:

Without Health Care Reform There's A 50/50 Chance You'll End Up Without Coverage In The Next 10 Years

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:36:46 EDT

If you’re an American under the age of 65, there’s roughly a 50/50 chance that you will find yourself without coverage at some point in the next decade.[Source]

President Obama first highlighted this staggering figure in a weekly address from this past September and detailed how, in our broken health care system, losing insurance can happen to anyone. At yesterday’s rally, the President reminded us of just how fragile the status quo really is:

Part of what makes this issue difficult is most of us do have health insurance, we still do. And so -- and so we kind of feel like, well, I don’t know, it’s kind of working for me; I’m not worrying too much. But what we have to understand is that what’s happened to Natoma, there but for the grace of God go any one of us. Anybody here, if you lost your job right now and after the COBRA ran out …

So let’s just think about -- think about if you lost your job right now. How many people here might have had a preexisting condition that would mean it’d be very hard to get health insurance on the individual market? Think about if you wanted to change jobs. Think about if you wanted to start your own business but you suddenly had to give up your health insurance on your job. Think about what happens if a child of yours, heaven forbid, got diagnosed with something that made it hard for them to insure.

For so many people, it may not be a problem right now but it’s going to be a problem later, at any point. And even if you’ve got good health insurance, what’s happening to your premiums? What’s happening to your co-payments? What’s happening to your deductible? They’re all going up. That’s money straight out of your pocket.

So the bottom line is this: The status quo on health care is simply unsustainable. We can’t have -- we can’t have a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people.

Video: Obama Rally to Kucinich: "Vote Yes!"

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:37:08 EDT

Confident and fired up, President Obama appeared at a health-care reform rally in Ohio on Monday, telling the crowd about his NCAA bracket, complimenting Ohio State's basketball team, and relaying an important message to Dennis Kucinich.

Kucinich in Obama's crosshairs

For Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) -- who says he plans to vote no on the president's health-care bill -- it must have felt like a much longer flight.

Obama invited Kucinich and undecided Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) to the ultimate pressure cooker as he tries to nail down a majority for his top domestic priority.

What was said at 35,000 feet is anyone's guess, and Kucinich is -- for once -- not talking. The president talked one on one with Kucinich aboard Air Force One on the flight, a White House spokesman said. But Obama's onetime presidential rival just smiled as he walked across the tarmac upon arrival in his home state.

"I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say," Kucinich said. A spokesman in his D.C. office said the congressman was politely declining all requests for interviews today.

But there was a public hint of the kind of pressure he is under. When Obama introduced Kucinich at his rally in Strongsville, in the congressman's suburban Cleveland district, someone in the audience called out, "Vote yes."

Obama, not missing a beat, turned to his traveling partner. "Did you hear that, Dennis?" he asked.

Obama Rally to Kucinich: "Vote Yes!"

Watch It:

Health Care Reform: The Costs of Failure

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:18:18 EDT

The Costs of Failure: Economic Consequences of Failure to Enact Nixon, Carter, and Clinton Health Reforms

The growth in national health expenditures as a percentage of GDP and what we would have spent as a nation if effective measures to slow the growth in health expenditures by 1.5 percentage points a year had been adopted in 1975, 1980, and 1995:

In 1960, we spent 5.2 percent of GDP on health care, compared with the 3.8 percent of GDP median rate in all major industrialized nations. Today, we spend 17.7 percent—nearly twice the rate of 9 percent that is devoted to health care in other industrialized countries.

Ezra Klein:

These days, we spend a bit more than 17 percent of our GDP on health care. That comes out to more than $2.5 trillion. If we'd reformed the system in 1995, and our spending had slowed by 1.5 percentage points then, health care would only be 14.2 percent of GDP right now. If we'd followed Carter's schedule and moved in 1980, we'd be down to 11.5 percent of GDP. And Nixon's plan in 1975? A mere 10.75 percent of GDP, which as you can see on the graph, isn't that far from what Europe spends. The lesson is simple: The earlier you start, the more you save. And with each opportunity you miss, you lose years of accumulated savings.

Patriotism: 'Which Side Of History Will YOU Be On?'

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:54:39 EDT

An influential liberal advocacy group shifted gears and is getting behind President Obama's push for health care reform even though its membership believes it doesn't go far enough.

MoveOn.org is spending "six figures" on television commercials to run on national cable and called on its membership to back primary challengers to Democrats who vote against health care reform legislation.

For the past year, MoveOn.org advocated that a public option be included in the overhaul health care reform. But the leadership of the member driven organization took a poll of its membership last week to see if it wanted to support the president's push. And 83 percent of them did.

"Our members still totally believe that the public option is the best way to lower costs and make health care affordable," said Ilyse Hogue, spokeswoman for MovOn.org. "And at the same time they overwhelmingly believe that the president's plan is the best way to keep health care reform moving forward and this is a necessary step."

The MoveOn.org TV ad contains images of prominent historical figures including an image of the founding fathers, President Abraham Lincoln, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., President Franklin Roosevelt and President Lyndon Johnson.

"Throughout history, America has been blessed with heroic leaders - individuals who helped us to navigate between right and wrong," the announcer says in the ad.

Citing rising health care costs and the needs of the uninsured in the country, the ad continues "We need historic action. We need our leaders to fight for what's right."

The ad implores viewers to call their representatives in Congress and asks them "Which side of history will you be on?"

As for supporting primary challengers, MoveOn.org representatives noted that every vote is needed in the House to ensure health care reform passes.

"With the big vote happening as early as this Friday, Conservative Democrats need to know the stakes if they choose to side with Big Insurance over the voters on health care reform," MoveOn.org said in the e-mail.

Watch It:

Michelle on a Mission: Let's Move!

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:28:38 EDT

Michelle Obama has landed another magazine cover – not for fashion, but for her Let’s Move! initiative. The First Lady wrote the cover story for next week’s Newsweek. The March 22nd magazine cover shows the First Lady with an apple and title “Feed Your Children Well: My Fight Against Childhood Obesity.”

Her article touches on familiar themes from her recent speeches on the topic – centering on idea that adults, not kids, need to take charge of this problem.

For years, we've known about the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. We've heard the statistics—how one third of all kids in this country are either overweight or obese. We've seen the effects on how our kids feel, and how they feel about themselves. And we know the risks to their health and to our economy—the billions of dollars we spend each year treating obesity-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
But we also know that it wasn't always like this. Back when many of us were growing up, we led lives that kept most of us at a pretty healthy weight. We walked to school every day, ran around at recess and gym and for hours before dinner, and ate home-cooked meals that always seemed to have a vegetable on the plate.
And let's be honest with ourselves: our kids didn't do this to themselves. Our kids don't decide what's served in the school cafeteria or whether there's time for gym class or recess. Our kids don't choose to make food products with tons of sugar and sodium in supersize portions, and then have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn. And no matter how much they beg for fast food and candy, our kids shouldn't be the ones calling the shots at dinnertime. We're in charge. We make these decisions.
That's actually the good news—that we can decide to solve this problem. That's why we started Let's Move, a nationwide campaign with a single goal: to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation, so that children born today can reach adulthood at a healthy weight.

Countdown To Historic Health Care Vote

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:16:08 EDT

It was more than a year ago that Obama asked Congress to approve legislation extending health coverage to tens of millions who lack it, curbing industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions, and beginning to slow the growth of health care nationally. His plan would require most Americans to buy health insurance, fine most who fail to do so and provide government subsidies to help middle-income earners and the working poor afford it.

Sweeping legislation seemed to be on the brink of passage in January, after both houses approved bills and lawmakers began working out a final compromise in talks at the White House. But those efforts were sidetracked when Republicans won a special election in Massachusetts — and with it, the ability to block a vote on a final bill in the Senate.

Now, nearly two months later, lawmakers have embarked on a two-step approach that requires the House to approve the measure passed by the Senate, despite misgivings on key provisions. That would be followed by both houses quickly passing a second bill that makes numerous changes to the first. In the Senate, that second bill would come to a vote under rules that deny Republicans the ability to filibuster.

The details of the second, fix-it measure were closely guarded — and subject to last-minute changes. In general, officials have said they would provide more money for lower-income families unable to afford health care and states that already provide above average coverage for the poor under Medicaid, as well as improved prescription drug coverage under Medicare.

The legislation is expected to delete a provision in the Senate bill that singled out Nebraska for favorable treatment under a requirement to expand Medicaid coverage.

Instead, Democrats may provide as much as $15 billion to a dozen states and the District of Columbia, all of which already provide at least some of the coverage.

Officials said one sticking point remained a Senate-passed provision establishing an independent commission with authority to force greater reductions in future Medicare payments to providers. House Democrats want to curtail the board's powers, but rules may forbid any changes under the complex rules covering the Senate's debate of the measure.

The cost of the overhaul is expected to total $950 billion or more over a decade. It would be covered by higher taxes on the wealthy as well as on some health care providers and high-cost insurance plans.

Several hundred billion dollars would also be cut from planned Medicare increases, much of the burden falling on companies that provide private coverage to seniors under Medicare Advantage.