Obama Heads West With Pitch for Health Reform

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• JIM LEHRER:

  And still to come on the NewsHour tonight: the future of space flight; Shields and Brooks; the Taliban view; and the Weaver-Obama interview.

  That follows two takes on the health care debate. The first was in the West, where President Obama took his campaign for reform back on the road today. NewsHour correspondent Betty Ann Bowser reports for our Health Unit, a partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• BETTY ANN BOWSER:

  In his second town hall meeting of the week, the president once again sharply attacked insurance companies before a large crowd in Belgrade, Montana.

  Mr. Obama was introduced by Katie Gibson, a cancer survivor whose health insurance was canceled after she was told she had less than a year to live.

• PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

  Today we're talking about folks like Katie, who've had their insurance policies suddenly revoked, even though they were paying premiums, because of a medical condition.

  But we're no different than Katie and other ordinary Americans, no different than anybody else. 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 at a time when they desperately need care.

  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.

• BETTY ANN BOWSER:

  The president repeatedly tried to debunk some of the myths that have been spread about health care reform, citing a few aimed at a government-run insurance plan.

• PRESIDENT OBAMA:

  Everybody here who still has — who has currently private insurance, you know, you would more than likely still be on your private insurance plan. Employers wouldn't stop suddenly providing health insurance.

  So that is where this idea of government-run health care came from. It is not an accurate portrayal of the debate that's going on in Washington right now.