Obama Slams ‘Insurance Company Abuses’ at Health Care Rally

“Improper payments” figured among the many symptoms of an ailing health care system that President Obama railed against during a pep rally for health care reform near St. Louis on Wednesday—the latest stop in his U.S. tour to drum up support for his controversial cause.  —KA

The Washington Post:

“What we’re proposing is a common sense approach to protecting you from insurance company abuses and saving you money,” Obama said in the campaign-style appearance, his second health care speech outside Washington in a week, with another one scheduled in Ohio on Monday.

Obama cited abuses in the government-run Medicare and Medicaid and in other federal health programs, noting “payments sent to the wrong person, sent for the wrong reason, sent in the wrong amount.”

Sometimes “they’re innocent errors” and other times deliberate fraud “by scam artists and fly-by-night” operators, Obama said.

Read more

AP / Charles Dharapak

President Barack Obama speaks about health care reform Wednesday at St. Charles High School in St. Charles, Mo.