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Separately, some House Democrats have been lobbying to add to the health care bill unrelated legislation overhauling the nation's student loan programs. The administration has called for all federal student loans to be originated in the Education Department instead of through banks and other lenders. The government's savings is estimated at about $87 billion over a decade, money that would be put into larger Pell Grants and other forms of student assistance. A stand-alone measure has cleared the House but is stalled in the Senate. The White House has called for action on the broad health care legislation by March 18, but it seems virtually impossible for Congress to complete both bills by then. Officials said they did not expect the follow-up bill to be disclosed publicly until the end of the week at the earliest, and possibly not until next week. Under the Democratic blueprint, the fix-it bill would come to the Senate under rules denying Republicans the ability to demand a 60-vote majority to clear the way for passage. Obama's speech on Monday drew fresh criticism from Republicans in Congress, as well as a retort from the insurance industry. "Americans don't want this bill. They're telling us to start over. The only people who don't seem to be getting the message are Democrat leaders in Washington," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, said insurance industry workers "do not deserve to be vilified for political purposes. ... For every dollar spent on health care in America, less than one penny goes toward health plan profits. The focus needs to be on the other 99 cents." AHIP plans to spend more than $1 million to run television ads on cable stations nationwide beginning in the next few days to push back on the attacks on insurers. Obama has long identified the insurance industry as an obstacle to changes along the lines he seeks, but the administration's actions and rhetoric seem to have escalated in recent days. The president's proposal would give the government the right to limit excessive premium increases
-- a provision included after one firm announced a 39 percent increase in the price of individual policies sold in California. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, convened a White House meeting with insurance executives last week, and followed up with a letter released in advance of Obama's speech. It asks companies to "post on your Web sites the justification for any individual or small group rate increases you have implemented or proposed in 2010."
[Associated
Press;
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