Obama: 'TV Loves a Ruckus'

President Barack Obama said today in a town-hall meeting in Belgrade, Montana, that citizens are being "held hostage" by insurance companies that deny coverage to the sick."We are held hostage at any given moment by health-insurance companies that deny coverage or drop coverage or charge fees that people can't afford," Obama said. "It's wrong. It's bankrupting families. It's bankrupting businesses. And we are going to fix it when we pass health-insurance reform this year." The president also criticized the media for focusing too much on the controversy in the health-care debate. "TV loves a ruckus," he said. A new poll has found that more Americans disapprove than approve of Obama’s health-care plan, even as the president is halfway through a town-hall tour to defend it. Obama won the presidency in part by attracting the type of voters typical of Montana, who are characterized as independent, pro-gun and pro-private property. It is independent voters—52 percent of them, according to the new poll—who have become increasingly uneasy with the boom in government spending, as well as the "big-business bailouts," the Associated Press reports. While Obama's plan maintains high approval ratings among Democrats, 55 percent of Americans expect that health care will "get worse or stay the same," according to the poll.