It's no secret that institutions of all stripes focus their communications on certain messages day to day. We thought it would all be a little more open and transparent if we went ahead and published what our focus will be for the day, along with any related articles, documents, or reports.  Today we publish our second batch.

Supporting article: "Republicans want to make the insurance industry more like the credit card industry," Ezra Klein, Washington Post, 11/3/09

Supporting article: "Boehner's Health Care Bill At Odds With Pre-Existing GOP Positions," Huffington Post, 11/3/09

Talking Points: House Republican Health Care "Plan": Putting Families at Risk  

• After months of offering nothing but obstruction and roadblocks, House Republicans have now put together a hastily-constructed, last-minute "plan" for health reform. But the reality is that their plan would put families at risk by giving insurance companies more power to discriminate against patients while accumulating record profits.
• The bottom line is that under the House Republican plan, millions of Americans would lose the coverage and security they currently have.
• There is a lot of empty GOP rhetoric out there about this plan, so let's look at the reality of what they’re offering American families:

RHETORIC: The House Republican health care plan expands coverage to those who cannot get insurance now.

REALITY: The Republicans' bill leaves affordable health insurance out of reach for millions of Americans. 

No Elimination of Discrimination Based on Pre-existing Conditions: Nowhere does the bill make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. As a result, consumers will never be fully protected and guaranteed coverage options.

High-Risk Pools Will Not Provide Americans with Access to Affordable Coverage: The Republican bill states that it improves access through high-risk pools, but according to the bill, those states that currently do not have high-risk pools never need to develop them, and those states that have high-risk pools could close them.

Democrats Ensure No American Remains Uninsured Due to A Pre-existing Condition As a Bridge to REAL Health Insurance Reform. The President and House Democrats support affordable access to a high-risk pool nationwide for individuals with pre-existing conditions as a bridge to real insurance reform in 2013.

RHETORIC: The House Republican health care "plan" lets families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.

REALITY: Unlike the House Leadership bill, the Republicans' bill takes us backwards rather than forwards. 

In the Absence of Insurance Reform, This Policy will Undermine Patients' Protections: This proposal, which would allow insurance to be sold across state lines in the absence of any broader reforms to prevent discrimination in the individual marketplace, would undermine patients’ protections and drive up premiums. Under this policy, states would have a further incentive to gut consumer protections, which would create a devastating race to the bottom.

Insurers Can "Cherry Pick" Healthy Individuals: Without any additional protections, insurers would be allowed to cherry pick healthy enrollees by marketing strategies, benefit design, and targeting those states with the least consumer protections. That would drive up premiums for everyone else trying to buy insurance in the state.

RHETORIC: The House Republicans' bill allows individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together to acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do today.

REALITY: So-called "Association Health Plans" will reduce choices for small businesses and leave consumers vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

Association Health Plans are Exempt from State Consumer Protections: Association Health Plans (AHPs) allow small businesses from different states to pool together to buy health insurance that is exempt from consumer protections secured by many state laws. They undermine states’ comprehensive tools to prevent, identify and shut down fraudulent plans.

AHPs Allow Insurers to Cherry Pick Healthy Workers: By avoiding state consumer protections, AHPs make it easier for insurance companies to "cherry pick" healthy individuals and firms, leaving out those who are older or sicker, raising premiums for everyone else.

RHETORIC: The House Republican bill gives states the incentives through bonus payments to create their own reforms that lower health care costs and increase coverage.

REALITY: The Republican bill provides neither the means for cost containment nor the support that states need to get at cost drivers and increase the affordability of health care. It includes: 

NO policies to promote quality health care and efficiency of health care in private or public health insurance.
NO premium assistance for middle-income families that struggle to pay for health insurance.
NO increased support or options for states to build the platforms to improve the delivery system.

RHETORIC: The House Republican bill ends junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs.

REALITY: The Republican bill offers new no ideas. The bill caps the amount of damages a person injured can receive and will preempt state consumer protection laws.

President Obama and House Democrats support a range of ideas on how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine. That’s why President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum on September 17th directing the HHS Secretary to move forward with an initiative to give states and health systems the opportunity to apply for medical liability demonstration projects. House Democrats have also included a voluntary state incentive grants program in their bill to encourage states to develop alternatives to traditional malpractice litigation. 

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Know What to Do About the Flu Webcast series continues today with a live discussion at 1 pm on flu vaccination clinics and vaccine availability.  Watch as experts panelists discuss what to expect at H1N1 vaccination clinics and hear personal stories from Americans on why they chose to be vaccinated.  Participating in today’s webinar:

• Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Dr. Gloria Addo Ayensu, MD, MPH, Director of the Fairfax County Department of Health, Fairfax, Virginia
• Dr. Pierre Vigilance, Director, District of Columbia Department of Health, Washington, DC

Viewers can also join the discussion by sending questions via email to hhsstudio@hhs.gov, a selection of which will be read live during the event.  For more information about H1N1 and seasonal flu, visit Flu.gov, the one-stop resource for flu information.

It's no secret that institutions of all stripes focus their communications on certain messages day to day. We thought it would all be a little more open and transparent if we went ahead and published what our focus will be for the day, along with any related articles, documents, or reports.

Supporting article: "Massachusetts provides evidence that health-care reform lowers insurance premiums," Washington Post, 11/2/09

Supporting testimony: "Testimony Before the Senate HELP Committee on Health Reform and Small Businesses," Jonathan Gruber, 11/2/09 (pdf)

Supporting report: "The Economic Effects of Health Care Reform on Small Businesses and Their Employees," Council of Economic Advisers, 7/25/09

Talking Points: Objective Analysis Shows Reform will Help Small Businesses, Lower Premiums for American Families

Lowering Premiums For American Individuals and Families

• MIT economist Jonathan Gruber has a new report out showing that reform will lower premiums for Americans purchasing insurance on their own.
• Analyzing the non-partisan information from the CBO, Gruber reports that under the House version of health insurance reform legislation, a typical individual could save anywhere from nearly $500 to more than $3,000 and a typical family could save between $1,260 and more than $9,000.
• Those savings, he notes, come in addition to the more generous benefits consumers would receive by purchasing insurance through the newly created exchange.
• And it’s also in addition to increased protections – like banning insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions or dropping or watering down coverage when you get sick and need it most.
• "Not only does the House proposal lower premiums, it does so while also improving coverage," Gruber writes.

Helping Small Businesses

• Yesterday, Gruber also testified before the Senate HELP Committee that small businesses are disproportionately hurt by the health care status quo and that health insurance reform will lower premiums and save jobs in the small business sector.
  • “Small business has little to fear, and much to gain, from health reform,” Gruber concluded.
     
• Gruber testified that health insurance reform would break down many of the barriers currently facing small businesses – like unpredictable  premiums jumps, fear of starting new businesses for lack of affordable insurance options, and higher costs and limited choices due to administrative expenses and lack of bargaining power.
  • He also cited the tax credits that would help small businesses who need it most pay for insurance.
     
• Based on those factors, he unveiled a new analysis showing that health insurance reform will save small businesses 25% – or $65 billion per year – over the next decade.
• The consequences of those savings, he says, would be enormous.
  • Workers in small businesses will see an increase in their take-home pay of almost $30 billion/year.
  • And that reform would save about 80,000 jobs in the small business sector by 2019.
     
• Gruber also knocked down the myth that health insurance reform will raise costs for small businesses.  "Objective CBO analysis,” he pointed out,  “shows that these claims are clearly wrong – reform will lower, not increase, non-group insurance costs."

The White House Music Series continues tomorrow with a celebration of classical music featuring Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell, Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt.

We caught up with Joshua and Sharon in the East Room tonight during rehearsal:

Watch the Classical Music Student Workshop Concert, including child protégés Sujari Britt and Jason Yoder at 2:15 PM EST. Then at 7:15 PM EST join the President and First Lady to watch the evening Classical Music Concert live from the East Room.

• Watch though WhiteHouse.gov/live
• Watch and discuss with other classical music fans through Facebook

With last Friday’s unprecedented release of information on Recovery.gov, we’ve begun to see lots of interest in the specific types of projects that have been funded by the Recovery Act.  Even more specifically, we’re seeing reports that Recovery Act funds have been spent on questionable or wasteful funds. 

We are always on the lookout for wasteful or unwise projects under the Recovery Act, and one reason why we wanted all the projects information posted online with unprecedented speed and transparency was so that if something slipped through, the press and public would find it and we could take action.  More than 170 proposed Recovery Act projects have been halted or altered due to our review process.

That said, some of what’s been written or said about Recovery Act projects is just plain wrong.  Transparency requires calling out bad projects when we find them – but it also equally means responding to false criticisms when those are leveled, too.  Here are 10 myths about Recovery Act projects that have cropped up lately.

1. Recovery Act funds are being used to renovate a Lancaster County train station that hasn’t been used in 30 years.  Actually, more than 80,000 passengers use the Elizabethtown station every year, a number which has increased approximately 90 percent in just five years.  This station sits along an important transit line in Eastern Pennsylvania between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and renovations will help the continued growth in business development and improving the quality of life for residents of this rapidly growing area.
    
2. Recovery Act funds are being used for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minnesota.  Proposed as a potential project before the Recovery Act was even signed into law, this Duluth project was never approved, and no Recovery Act funds were directed to this proposed project.
    
3. Recovery Act funds are being used to install a guardrail for a dry lake bed in Oklahoma.   This project was halted months ago as the Army Corps looks into other ways to address safety issues in this area – but assertions that funds are being used for this project continue.
    
4. Recovery Act funds are being used by the U.S. Forest Service to breed and do research on bugs in Connecticut.  Yes, these funds are being used by the USFS – but to renovate and improve Connecticut research facilities to allow them to better respond to the need for more research into invasive species that are devastating our forests.  These invasive species, such as gypsy moths and wooly adelgids, are causing damage to both our parks and our natural resources, and research into potential methods of control is definitely not a wasteful use of resources.
    
5. Recovery Act funds are being used to purchase a freezer for fish sperm at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery, in South Dakota.  Actually, no Recovery Act funds are being used for this project.
    
6. Recovery Act funds are being used to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Illinois.  No – once again, there are no Recovery Act funds being used for this purpose.
    
7. Recovery Act funds are being used to purchase 22 toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest.  Actually, the funds are being used to purchase 22 complete, prefabricated restroom buildings for the National Forest – and include site preparation and installation.  At $21,000 per building installed, this is a reasonable cost and provides construction jobs in this area.
    
8. Recovery Act funds are being used to study how children perceive foreign accents.  Recovery Act funds are being used to support this and other National Institutes of Health (NIH) projects.  In this case, this basic research project will be particularly beneficial to children with hearing problems.
    
9. Recovery Act funds are being used to build a bridge connecting two Microsoft campuses.  Reports have said that $11 million in Recovery Act funds are being used to connect two Microsoft campuses in Redmond, Washington.  Actually, only about half of that amount is being used for this project, which is a vital transportation project strongly supported by both state and local officials in an area that supports over 44,000 jobs and was the region’s top priority after a rigorous, competitive review.
    
10. Recovery Act funds are being to provide a tax credit for golf carts. Some reports have highlighted an IRS tax credit for plug-in vehicles as a frivolous use of recovery resources.  In fact, the legislation that provides this tax break was signed into law by the former President, and the Recovery Act terminates this credit at the end of 2009 – rather than at the end of 2014 as the law was originally designed.

There are many projects supported by Recovery Act funds, and just as many opinions about whether the funds that support them are being used prudently.  We’ve highlighted ten projects here that have been held up as wasteful – and in all cases here, there is another story.  As directed by President Obama and Vice President Biden, we are always on the lookout for examples of waste and fraud, and will deal with it wherever we see it.  In the majority of cases, however, we are, and continue to be, good stewards of America’s Recovery Act funds.

G. Edward DeSeve is Special Advisor to the President, Assistant to the Vice President and Special Advisor to the OMB Director for Implementation of the Recovery Act

With National Cybersecurity Awareness Month now finished, I would like to remind everyone that cybersecurity is not an issue that requires our attention only one month a year. Instead, we need to be thinking about cybersecurity every time we turn on a computer. Further, as the threat of cyber attacks continues to increase, the U.S. Government and the nation as a whole need to continue to develop and identify the young cybersecurity experts who will keep our computers and digital networks secure and resilient.

One of the ways the U.S. Government cultivates future cyber defenders is through competitions such as the U.S. Cyber Challenge. This program, which is comprised of three separate cybersecurity challenges, has the goal of identifying 10,000 young Americans with the skills to fill the ranks of cybersecurity practitioners, researchers, and leaders. The program nurtures and develops their skills, gives them access to advanced education and exercises, and where appropriate, enables them to be recognized by colleges, companies, and government departments and agencies where their skills can be of the greatest value to the nation.

One of the amazing stories from this year’s U.S. Cyber Challenge is Michael Coppola.  Michael is a high school senior and is the leading point scorer through two rounds of the Netwars challenge. Despite not having much formal cybersecurity training, Michael is beating teams of adults and cybersecurity professionals, and, as you can see in the interview excerpt below, remains humble and grounded. Keep up the good work, Michael!

Q. So, Michael, what we'd really like to hear about is what it was like to participate in the NetWars competition. But for starters, how did you even find out about it?

A. In May, a news collective, Digg, pointed me to an article on Forbes.com that described the NetWars contest but didn't provide any information on how to actually participate. About a month later, a link to the contest surfaced on the 2600 news feed, and the rest is history

Q. And just out of curiosity, you're in your senior year in high school - had you already taken computer science courses at school?

A. Yes, I've taken a few, but they don't offer computer security classes. I've taken Graphic Design, Web Design and Animation, and Computer Networking and Repair. I enrolled to take Introduction to Programming this year, but they cancelled it, because they couldn't find a suitable teacher.

Q. Did you ever wonder about what you might "win" or get out of it?

A. The original flyer said something about "cyber camps," but I didn't really know what that meant. I played just to play, and if I won anything from it, then all the better.

Q. Were you surprised when you won? Did you know that the second highest score came from a TEAM of five (?) players working together?

A. I was actually very surprised to be honest. I didn't expect to win, because I assumed that the people I was competing against would be in college with formal educations. Also, I had no idea the second place contestant was in fact a team of five until you asked me!

John Brennan is Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism

As we've documented again and again, perhaps most powerfully by the Council of Economic Advisers’ report in July, health insurance reform is as important for America's small businesses as it is for anybody.  But as actual legislation makes its way towards the floors of the House and Senate, it's good to look again at all of the issues surrounding reform, which is why HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and SBA Administrator Karen Mills will hold a briefing today to give a legislative update and discuss the impact of health reform on small businesses before taking questions from the group of business owners. 

And as we so often do, we want to give you an opportunity to engage as well. Rebecca Adelman of HHS will be live-blogging the event, and you can also either watch it live here at WhiteHouse.gov, or watch, discuss it and ask questions through Facebook.

• Watch through WhiteHouse.gov/live
   
• Watch, discuss and engage through Facebook

UPDATE 12:40: Administrator Karen Mills focuses her remarks on the real trouble many small business owners are in as they struggle to provide insurance to their employees. "We have extraordinary entrepreneurs in our country," she says. "But maybe you can't leave your employer, because how will you afford an individual policy?" She said she recently spoke to one small business owner who told her that she had been in business three years before she could provide health insurance to her employees. Only then, did she consider her business a success. Last week in this room, Administrator Mills said, the President addressed what was at stake in the health reform debate. His answer? That this country is a place where the only limits are your dreams. 

UPDATE 12:34: Secretary Sebelius says we are closer to achieving reform than ever before. She closes with this key point: These problems are not getting better. They are getting worse. And they are going to keep getting worse until we do something about it. The Secretary receives loud applause from the group of small business owners. Next up to address the group is Rick Poore, a small business owner from Nebraska.

UPDATE 12:25: Rebecca Adelman - Dr. Brantley introduces Secretary Sebelius, who opens her remarks by saying that when we pass health insurance reform, it will become illegal to deny Americans coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Secretary Sebelius says as much as she enjoys talking with small business owners, her goal is that next time the group here today comes to Washington, they don't need to talk to her, because health care would no longer be on their list of biggest concerns. Small business owners, the Secretary said, should be focused on delivering a great product and meeting the needs of their customers - not worrying about health care.

UPDATE 12:12: Rebecca Adelman - "Running a business is not an easy task," Dr. Brantley says. "When there are changes in the economy, we feel them." He explains that his wife left her job to help him with his business, but soon afterward, his family lost their private insurance because of his wife's pre-existing condition: pregnancy. Many in the crowd nod in agreement when Mr. Brantley says. "I am living the American dream, but my dream has become a nightmare."

UPDATE 12:07: Rebecca Adelman - Over 100 small business owners are gathered in the South Court Auditorium for a briefing with the Director of the Office of Public Engagement Tina Tchen, Secretary of HHS Kathleen Sebelius and Small Business Administrator Karen Mills on health insurance reform. Tina Tchen welcomes the group of small business owners to the White House. She says we are all here today to discuss the urgent need for health reform. She introduces Dr. Ken Brantley, who runs an Optometry practice in Richmond, Virginia, to address the group.

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden traveled to Yankee Stadium to honor America's veterans at Game 1 of the 2009 World Series. During the visit, they took the field with baseball legend Yogi Berra to watch Lieutenant Anthony Odierno (U.S. Army) throw out the game's first pitch. See exclusive video of the night here:

I hope you take a moment to watch this powerful video about the dedicated men and women who are working to improve the environment at the Savannah River Site thanks to support from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

At the Savannah River Site, located along the border of Georgia and South Carolina, workers are cleaning up the environmental legacy of the nation's nuclear weapons program. These workers have an important mission: to protect the health of our citizens and our environment.

With funding from the Recovery Act, we have been able to accelerate the clean-up at the Savannah River Site and put Americans back to work. As of October 30th, 2009, 2,295 jobs have been created or saved at this Site.

Behind this number lies the stories of thousands of hard-working Americans who have good jobs and new opportunities today because of the Recovery Act. I encourage you to watch the video and hear some of these workers tell their stories.

Steven Chu is Secretary of Energy