Foes try to reclaim ground on health care bill

Sixty House Democrats penned a letter of protest to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who prompted a rebellion by liberals by saying Sunday that the “public option’’ - a government plan to compete with private insurers - was not an “essential element’’ of a health care overhaul as far as the Obama administration was concerned.

“The opportunity to improve access to health care is a onetime opportunity,’’ wrote the leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus. “Americans deserve reform that is real - not smoke and mirrors. We cannot rely solely on the insurance companies’ good faith efforts to provide for our constituents.’’

Sebelius and the White House tried to get back on message yesterday, saying that Obama still prefers a public option, though he is open to other ways to create competition to private insurers.

A new poll out yesterday showed that Americans are divided on the public plan. According to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, 47 percent of Americans oppose a government plan to compete with private insurers, while 43 percent support the idea.

Meanwhile, House GOP leader John Boehner wrote to Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America president and CEO Billy Tauzin, urging him to reconsider the drug industry’s support of Obama’s health care push - what Boehner described as “Washington Democrats’ government takeover of health care.’’

The drug industry agreed to kick in $80 billion in savings over 10 years to help pay for the overhaul and help fund an ad campaign backing an overhaul. In return, the White House agreed not to push for additional concessions.

“Appeasement rarely works as a conflict resolution strategy,’’ Boehner writes. “This is as true in the arena of policymaking as it is in schoolyards across America. When a bully asks for your lunch money, you may have no choice but to fork it over. But cutting a deal with the bully is a different story, particularly if the ‘deal’ means helping him steal others’ money as the price of protecting your own.’’

GLOBE STAFF

“An ironic development is that the launch of an online program meant to provide facts about health insurance reform has itself become the target of fear-mongering and online rumors that are the tactics of choice for the defenders of the status quo,’’ the White House’s new media director, Macon Phillips, wrote in announcing the change.

The e-mail tip line was launched Aug. 4 as part of a rapid-response effort. But the new effort quickly sparked concern among Republicans about the propriety of the government collecting information on private citizens’ political speech.

E-mails to the canceled address now refer users to the White House health care “reality check’’ site, where they can continue to report distortions, but through a Web-based interface and with the warning, “Please refrain from submitting any individual’s personal information, including their e-mail address, without their permission.’’

WASHINGTON POST

Titled “True Compass,’’ the book was scheduled to go on sale in October, but will now go on sale Sept. 14. “We’d always hoped to publish earlier,’’ Cary Goldstein, spokesman for the publisher Twelve, told USA Today. “The production process moved faster than expected, so we were able to shave off some time.’’

Kennedy, who is fighting brain cancer, is drawing on nearly a half century of personal journals for the book, starting with his brother John’s 1960 presidential campaign. He is co-writing it with Ron Powers, best-selling author of “Flags of Our Fathers,’’ about the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

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