01
6A - Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
House panel asks
Planned Parenthood
to hand over records
PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/AP
President Barrack Obama greets supporters after speaking at a Democratic fundraiser at the Paramount Theater, Sunday, Sept. 25, in Seattle, Wash.
Obama grapples with
memoriesI of 2008 hope
GOP questions
spending of public
funds on abortions
WASHINGTON (AP) - A
Republican-led House panel
has asked the Planned Parent-
hood Federation of America to
hand over more than a decade's
worth of documents in a probe
of whether the organiza-
tion improperly spends public
money on abortions.
Democrats and Planned
Parenthood supporters say the
90-year-old group is audited
regularly and publicly and that
the probe is the latest Republi-
can run at shutting it down.
At issue is whether Ameri-
can taxpayers are unwittingly
underwriting elective abor-
tions, in violation of federal law.
Absolutely not, says Planned
Parenthood. But congressional
Republicans are not so sure.
Planned Parenthood, the
nation's largest provider of
abortions and an array of other
health services, is at the cen-
ter of the fight. Republicans
portray the organization as
primarily focused on perform-
ing abortions, and charge that
taxpayer funds for family plan-
ning and other health care ser-
vices indirectly subsidized that
role. They've launched multiple
efforts this year alone to bar
federal money from the group
as long as it provides abortions.
The Planned Parenthood Fed-
eration of America - the formal
name of the organization -
says taxpayer money is strictly
separated.
"The committee has ques-
tions about the policies in
place and actions undertaken
by PPFA and its affiliates relat-
ing to its use of federal funding
and its compliance with federal
restrictions on the funding of
abortions," Rep. Cliff Stearns,
chairman of the House Energy
and Commerce investigations
subcommittee, wrote in a Sept.
15 letter to Planned Parenthood
President Cecile Richards.
Due by the end of the month:
internal audits of how much
Planned Parenthood received
and spent in government money
from 1998 to 2010. Stearns also
requests any state audits of
PPFA for the last 20 years that
have not been made public, as
well as a description for how
"segregation between family
planning and abortion services
is accomplished," and how the
practice is monitored for com-
pliance.
"The American taxpayer
does not want to be in the
business of abortion, and this
investigation is an important
first step toward ending public
funding of the nation's largest
abortion provider," said Char-
maine Yoest, president and
CEO of Americans United for
Life, which earlier this year
conducted and presented to
Stearns' committee its own
study on Planned Parenthood.
Democrats say the group's
800-plus health centers nation-
wide provide an array of servic-
es, from screenings for cancer
to testing for sexually transmit-
ted diseases. Abortion, they say,
is only one of Planned Parent-
hood's services. The law bars
the group from usingtax money
for the procedure.
They cast Stearns as only
the latest Republican to assail
women's health services. The
group is audited regularly by
the Department of Health and
Human Services' inspector
general and state Medicaid pro-
grams,and the results are made
public, the Democrats said in
their response yesterday.
"These audits have not iden-
tified any pattern of misuse of
federal funds, illegal activity or
other abuse that would justify a
broad and invasive congressio-
nal investigation," Democratic
Reps. Henry Waxman of Cali-
fornia and Diana DeGette of
Colorado wrote.
Planned Parenthood's Rich-
ards said in a statement that the
investigation was really aimed
at "undermining access to
care." Nonetheless, the group
was responding to Stearns' let-
ter "in a timely manner."
Abortion politics nearly
scuttled President Barack
Obama's health care overhaul
in the final hours of debate last
year, and has popped up in the
budget fights that have domi-
nated the new, more conserva-
tive Congress since January.
President works to
regain momentum,
starting in Denver
DENVER (AP) - Remember
when Barack Obama first ran for
president and people were really
into him?
Obama remembers it, too; but
not the same way some of his
supporters do.
Bidding for re-election in
tough economic times, Obama
says there is some "revision-
ist history" going on about how
great that first race was.
His strategy is to bring disil-
lusioned supporters back into
the fold by addressing their feel-
ings of discouragement head-
on and reminding them they
signed up for something tough
to begin with - even if now they
just remember the "hope" and
"change" posters.
And he's telling them bluntly
they will have to be even more
determined and find different
sources of inspiration this time
around since he is not the fresh
face.
"I'm grayer, I'm all dinged up,"
Obama told a Hollywood fund-
raiser crowd Monday night. "And
those old posters everybody has
got in their closet, they're all
dog-eared and faded. And so the
energy of 2008 is goingto have to
be generated in a different way."
The approach is one Obama
almost has to take if he's to rec-
oncile memories of his historic
2008 campaign with the dispir-
iting realities of governing a
divided country amid a sagging
economy and unemployment
topping 9 percent.
Yesterday, Obama was in
Denver, the city where he
accepted the Democratic presi-
dential nomination three years
ago before an adoring crowd
of 80,000. Tuesday's event, a
speech at a high school to pro-
mote his jobs plan, wasn't an
attempt to recreate that specta-
cle or recapture that energy.
But the contrast did under-
score how much harder it can
be to inspire as president than
as candidate. He was pushing a
nearly $450 billion jobs plan that
has little if any chance of getting
through a divided Congress.
It's a far cry from three years
ago in Denver when the presi-
dent told the huge crowd, "It's
time for us to change America."
Comments from people waiting
to hear Obamaspeak yesterdayday
showed how much has changed.
"It doesn't feel the same. Peo-
ple aren't excited," said Adrienne
Hernandez, 26, an electrical
engineering student in Denver.
"There's a lot of fear, a lot of anx-
iety. It's totally different."
Brooke White, 36, a profes-
sional blackjack dealer from
Denver, said she was an Obama
volunteer in 2008.
"I'll volunteer again, but I'm
not as into it, I'll tell you that,"
White said. "I'm not so excited,
I'm not as motivated. I worked so
hard four years ago. I don't have
the same motivation to get out
there and work every single day
like I did in '08."
It would have been tough for
the realities of the Obama presi-
dency, with its deal-making and
compromises, to compete with
the inspirations of the Obama
campaign under the best of
circumstances. He's encoun-
tered far from the best, with the
tough economy and Republicans
attacking him at every turn.
But for Obama, the disillu-
sionment goes even deeper than
the political reality that govern-
ing is harder and uglier than
campaigning. ,
Obama's campaign was pre-
mised on the notion of uniting
the country and changing the
very way Washington worked.
But that's something he's
acknowledged he failed to do.
Survey: Insurance
costs surge in 2011
RELEASE DATE- Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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Premiums for
family coverage
climb 9 percent
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The
cost of employer-sponsored
health insurance surged this
year, snapping a trend toward
moderate growth, but experts
say these increases may slow
again in 2012.
Annual premiums for fam-
ily coverage climbed 9 percent
and surpassed $15,000 for the
first time, according to a report
released yesterday by the Kai-
ser Family Foundation and the
Health Research and Education-
al Trust. Premiums for single
coverage rose 8 percent com-
pared to 2010.
That growth compares to
increases last year of 3 and 5 per-
cent for family and single cover-
age, respectively.
The study does not delve into
why rates jumped in 2011, but
foundation CEO Drew Altman
said a. number of factors may
have played a role. He noted
that health care costs continue
to rise. Insurer profits and the
health care overhaul also have
some impact.
Companies and workers split
premiums for employer-spon-
sored coverage, the most com-
mon form of health insurance in
the United States.
Businesses likely reacted to
these cost increases by freez-
ing retirement account contri-
butions or giving a flat wage or
smaller increase to their work-
ers, said Helen Darling, CEO of
the National Business Group on
Health, a nonprofit organization
that represents large employers
on health care issues.
"(Workers) basically are giv-
ing their pay raise to the health
system," said Darling, who was
not involved with the Kaiser
study. It's really bad news.c
The annual study was con-
ducted earlier this year and
includes results from more
than 2,000 companies across
the country. It also indicates
that many more families than
previously believed have ben-
efited from a popular provision
in President Barack Obama's
health care overhaul allowing
young adults to stay on aparent's
health plan until they turn 26.
Kaiser asked employers how
.many people were added to
their insurance plans because
of this provision and estimated
that 2.3 million young adults
enrolled. Last week the govern-
menthad reported that the num-
ber of uninsured young adults
had dropped by nearly 1 million
since the law took effect, a find-
ing independently corroborated
by Gallup.
The difference isn't necessar-
ily a contradiction.
Insurers have been saying for
months that health care use has
grown more slowly this year,
something industry observ-
ers pin on the sluggish econo-
my. Altman and other benefits
experts say that could lead to
lower premium increases next
year, since insurers base their
rates inpart on how often people
use care.
The overhaul aims to eventu-
ally cover millions of uninsured
people.
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