Pro- and anti-health reform groups wage last minute attacks

Stephan Payne protested abuses by health insurance companies and pushed for health care reform during a rally Tuesday. The rally was organized by Health Care for America Now and coincided with an annual conference for health insurance executives in D.C. (Jessica Marcy/KHN)

Thousands of protestors marched Tuesday to Washington's Ritz-Carlton hotel, where insurance company executives are meeting, The Washington Post reports. The protestors reinforced "the Obama administration's recent criticism of increasing health premiums… [and] marched to the hotel to make a mock 'citizen's arrest' of insurance executives, who were demonized on demonstration posters and over the loudspeaker. ... Insurers say they are being vilified," and attribute the rate increases to price hikes by doctors, hospitals and drug makers (Norfleet, 3/10).

Los Angeles Times: The protest "will be followed in coming weeks by more events and an advertising campaign." The protest's union backers "are also targeting Senate Democrats who are opposed to using the parliamentary tactic of reconciliation, which prevents filibusters. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) is one such lawmaker. She is being challenged in this year's primary by a more liberal Democrat, and the unions are actively supporting the challenger" (Geiger, 3/10).

Roll Call: "A number of those at the protest said they wanted to show there is energy and commitment for health care reform despite the attention paid to health care opponents, such as members of the tea party. ... One group of young people came as fat-cat insurance executives, wearing suits, top hats and smoking cigars. They sported signs reading 'United Wealth Care' and 'Inhumana,' spoofing the well-known health care companies United Healthcare and Humana" (Roth, 3/10).

Meanwhile, business groups that oppose the overhaul are gathering steam - and buying ad space - to push their view, according to The Wall Street Journal. A U.S. Chamber of Commerce-backed group, Employers for a Healthy Economy will "run between $4 million and $10 million of ads targeting the districts of several dozen Democratic lawmakers, carrying the message that the bill would cause job losses" (McKinnon and Mullins, 3/10).

USA Today: "At the same time, the health insurance industry as soon as today will begin airing ads of its own on cable TV networks. Those ads, by America's Health Insurance Plans, aim to blunt White House criticism of insurance companies for raising rates. 'Doctors, hospitals, medicines and tests' drive up health care costs, not insurance companies, the ads say. The group will not say how much it's spending on the ads beyond that it is at least $1 million" (Hall, 3/9).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.