HEALTH CARE

Obama Goes After Insurance Industry

Says system is rigged in their favor.

Midway through a difficult month for health-care reform, President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address to stay on the offensive with a message targeting the insurance industry. Referring to people he had met who suffered under the status quo, Obama said: "These are the stories that aren't being told—stories of a health-care system that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people." Invoking the insurance companies again, he said that he would "pass health-insurance reform that finally holds the insurance companies accountable." Obama also went after false rumors surrounding congressional proposals to reform health care, including Sarah Palin's "death panel" claim—though he didn't mention the former governor by name. "The history is clear—every time we come close to passing health-insurance reform, the special interests with a stake in the status quo use their influence and political allies to scare and mislead the American people," Obama said.