The plight of people who lose their insurance and then get sick is one of the most appealing arguments for health care reform. And the White House really took advantage of it, soliciting tear-jerking stories from responsible folks who played by the rules and who can’t get insurance through no fault of their own.

Most Americans want to repeal the new health reform although they agree with many of the law’s main ideas, according to a new survey.

New Jersey opened NJ Protect, a state program to cover about 21,000 uninsured residents with pre-existing medical conditions.

New York Gov. David Paterson said he was surprised to hear that a no-bid federal contract providing coverage to uninsured state residents with pre-existing conditions went to the company that also employs his wife.

While the Obama Administration is confident that the coming week will produce the first step in a march to victory on health care reform, at least one Republican is saying the way Democrats are fighting for change is “a political kamikaze mission.”

While no one is ready to declare that health reform initiatives being weighed by Congress are dead, Democrats and Republicans have very differing views of the condition of one final piece of comprehensive legislation.

As the House and Senate begin work to merge their respective health reform bills into one comprehensive piece of legislation, one early victim of compromise may be a government-run health insurance program.

While President Barack Obama praised a $1.2 trillion comprehensive health reform bill passed by the House as “courageous” and “historic,” Republican congressmen and members of the insurance industry are faulting the bill for its numerous shortcomings, especially the public option.

President Obama told supporters in California Oct. 15 that the passage of health care reform legislation before Congress will “end some of the monkey business that these insurance companies engage in.”

The District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking is reminding insurers they are not to use information regarding domestic violence or spousal abuse as a factor in issuing life or health insurance policies to victims.