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BLOGS

Here area few notes on President Obama’s speech to Congress on healthcare tonight:

We are reliably informed he will mention Nathan Wilkes, who went to high school and college in Greensboro. His mom still lives in the area. In addition to being an assembly candidate, Wilkes is the father of three children, one of who was born with hemophilia. In the video linked here, Wilkes tells the story of how treatments for his child not only drove up his own health insurance costs but costs for his entire company. Update: The White House's own site says Wilkes will be mentioned. Click here for that.
The Washington Post got a preview of the speech from administration officials and said that the president will come out in favor of a public option plan as part of the overall reform effort. "Obama intends to reiterate his preference that any final bill include a government-run insurance plan," the Post reported.
Sen. Kay Hagan said this morning she was hoping to hear about specifics about how the president wanted health reform to go and how he would pay for it. “I'm interested in seeing how he wants it to be funded,” she said on a conference call with reporters. "I want to hear some of the specifics that we would like to see in health care reform."
As my boss reports, you’ll be able to see the speech, just not on some of the local affiliates of national networks in Greensboro.
Americans for Prosperity will be organizing some push-back at the state fairgrounds tonight. Click here for info on that.