President Obama Holds Town Hall Meeting In Montana

[ExecutiveIncome2You]

President Obama held a town hall meeting in Montana today to explain his health care plan & to put down some of the misinformation we've seen in highly publicized town hall meetings throughout the country over the past few weeks.

Town hall meetings run by democratic senators which have gotten out of hand have been shown on television again and again by the media. These people have every right to speak their opinion but many political analysts have cited that the meetings are littered with factless statements & false arguments.

Today, President Obama attempted to clear the air by venturing into conservative territory & explaining key details of his healthcare plan, answering important questions by average Americans and fielding a few tough ones as well.

In your opinion, is President Obama doing enough to gain support for his healthcare plan which, according to many independent analysts, would have very positive effects on healthcare in the United States, or do you think the administration is losing the battle to those who oppose the plan?

Your opinion is much appreciated! Please leave a comment!

[cash4aussie]

Well I think Obama really is great when it comes to gaining support and getting people to believe in him, but to be honest I really dislike his economic plan so I'm hoping he's not getting re-elected...
His health care plan does seem to be a much improved version of what U.S. has now though...

[Angella]

Who knows.........IMO Obama brings new changes, I guess he knows what's better for the country and people.

[rielkat25]

I sure hope it goes well. There are so many people out there who can't afford healthcare in the first place! We need to start taking care of the people here in our own country and and take care of our children!

[geoff01]

Moved thread to `Off Topic` for any further discussion.

[Lita]

If lies are being told, you should know to go the opposite way of the lie, think?

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/settingtherecord

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/hea..._its_inte.html
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Lobbyists Spend Millions to Influence Health Care

By Dan Eggen
Drugmakers, hospitals and insurers continued to pour millions of dollars into lobbying during the second quarter of this year, hoping to limit the damage to their bottom line as lawmakers and the Obama administration wrangle over landmark health-care legislation.

New disclosure reports that began arriving Monday in Congress showed familiar players at the top of the health-care influence heap, including $6.2 million in lobbying by the dominant Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and $4 million by the American Medical Association.

Many health companies and associations increased their first-quarter lobbying expenditures, sometimes dramatically. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association upped its lobbying expenditures by a full million, to 2.8 million dollars in the second quarter; GlaxoSmithKline's spending jumped from $1.8 million to $2.3 million; Novartis grew from $1.4 million to $1.8 million; and Metlife Group reported $1.7 million, up nearly 50 percent. Allstate, which spent less than $900,000 on lobbying through March, boosted its spending to more than $1.5 million from April to June.

Others simply kept up the pace, including Johnson & Johnson at $1.6 million and America's Health Insurance Plans and Bayer Corp. both approaching $2 million in spending from April to June. The AMA has spent a total of $8.2 million on lobbying through June of this year.

Final aggregate numbers are likely a day or two away as reports continue to trickle in and get tallied by journalists and watchdog groups. But the data so far suggest that the second quarter has a good chance of reaching a new high for the health-care lobby. The industry already set records from January to March, when health-care firms and their lobbyists spent money at the rate of $1.4 million a day.

There were a few surprising examples of declines, however, most notably PhRMA, which reported spending about $700,000 less than it did in the first quarter. But consider that PhRMA spent $8.6 million in the first half of 2008 -- just two thirds of what they've spent so far this year.

This fight should not even be between the Dem's and the Repub's. It should be between those who take money from the special interests and those who don't. It should be between the little guy and the greedy insurance companies.

[optimist1419]

At least someone is doing something. For too long, everyone has said "we need reform" but done nothing about it. The republicans are now crying"Let's fix it the right way". They had 8 years to "fix it", but did nothing. It's someone else's turn now.