The rowdy protests that threaten Obama’s health-care reform efforts have been spurred on by a loose network of activists — from veteran advocacy groups to casual alliances of like-minded conservatives.
Some Republicans who were enthusiastic backers of end-of-life counseling in government programs like Medicare are distancing themselves from it in the face of a backlash from the right.
Trying to lower the temperature of the health care fight, President Barack Obama on Friday denounced news media emphasis on angry protesters at town-hall meetings.
Twenty-one people have died from the flu here, and 1,390 have been confirmed infected in this nation of 1.2 billion people. But fear of the flu has outpaced the virus itself.
The paragraphs, buried deep in the 1,000-page House health reform bill, appear innocuous, but they have ignited a firestorm among critics predicting government-sponsored euthanasia.
The furious controversy over Medicare payments for end-of-life care counseling stems from Section 1233 in the health bill passed by three House committees.