WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Obama health meeting draws Appalachian protesters

Obama health meeting draws Appalachian protesters

UPDATED: 3:16 p.m.

BRISTOL, Va. (AP) -- A crowd of more than 200 protesters opposed to President Obama's health care overhaul have gathered outside a Kroger supermarket in Bristol, Va., awaiting the president's arrival for a town hall meeting.

Some held signs reading, "Obamacare is political malpractice" and "Keep your hands off my health care."

The Wednesday protest drew people from the tri-state region of Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Art teacher Angie Meade of Bristol said she is worried about no longer being able to pick her own doctor.

Sixty-nine-year-old Elaine Powers said she thought the elderly would be restricted to what she called "end of life care" and allowed only pain pills as treatment.

Obama's meeting comes just days after some 2,700 poor people from Appalachia sought health care from a free clinic.

UPDATED: 12:22 p.m.

BRISTOL, Va. (AP) -- President Barack Obama arrives in a conservative corner of Appalachia for a town hall meeting on health care reform just days after an annual free clinic treated more than 2,700 poor people for decaying teeth, fading eyesight and other maladies.

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat who has represented southwest Virginia since 1982, says the clinic by Tennessee-based Remote Area Medical "put an exclamation point in a very visible way on the fact that we have 47 million uninsured Americans."

Obama's audience Wednesday in Bristol, Va., will include around 100 union-represented and insured employees of a Kroger grocery store. A Kroger spokeswoman says the company offers health insurance and supports health reform.

UPDATED: 12:20 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he doesn't want future generations to look back on the health care debate and say lawmakers focused on "petty politics" when they had a chance to help millions.

Nor does he want them to say Washington preserved the status quo for special interests or wasted the chance to get health care right.

As he urged Congress to send him a bill, Obama said he wants future generations to say lawmakers seized the moment and met the challenge to extend health insurance to millions of uninsured people and reduce costs for all.

Obama addressed a town hall meeting in Raleigh, N.C., about his plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system.

UPDATED: 12:15 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- President Barack Obama is making his health care reform pitch personal, telling North Carolinians how a sweeping overhaul will help them.

As congressional Democrats struggle to make progress on his top domestic priority, Obama is visiting North Carolina and Virginia Wednesday. He's emphasizing consumer protections in any bill he would sign.

They include a requirement for insurers to set annual caps on how much they charge for out-of-pocket expenses, to fully cover routine tests to help prevent illness, and to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays the premium in full.

Insurers would be barred from refusing coverage because of pre-existing conditions, scaling back insurance for the very ill or denying children family coverage through age 26.

**************************

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is retooling his pitch for legislation overhauling the nation's health care system by emphasizing that any bill he signs will include consumer protections.

Among conditions White House aides say Obama will outline in visits to North Carolina and Virginia Wednesday are that insurers would be required to set annual caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses, fully cover routine tests to help prevent illness, and renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full.

Insurers would be barred from refusing coverage because of pre-existing conditions, scaling back insurance for people who fall very ill, charging more for services based on gender, and placing caps on coverage.