Health-Bill Battle Won't Get a Recess

By NAFTALI BENDAVID and LOUISE RADNOFSKY

WASHINGTON -- The fight over the future of the U.S. health-care system is heading outside the Beltway this week, as groups on all sides take advantage of Congress's Veterans Day recess to put pressure on lawmakers.
Conservative groups are using the recess -- one week for the House and three days for the Senate -- to press lawmakers to vote no on the health-care overhaul plans. Groups in favor of the Democratic health plan are equally active, if not more so, after getting caught flat-footed this summer when groups opposing the plans packed town-hall meetings.
The House approved a Democratic bill Saturday by a narrow 220-215 margin. That proposal will have to be merged with a Senate bill, which the Senate is scheduled to begin work on next week.

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The pro-business Employment Policies Institute announced a $10 million ad campaign Wednesday that will run for eight to ten weeks and focus on Nebraska, North Dakota, Arkansas, Louisiana, Connecticut and Maine -- all states with centrist senators courted by both sides.
The 60 Plus Association, a conservative seniors group, said Wednesday that it was launching a $1.5 million advertising campaign targeting House Democrats who voted for the bill from states where senators have not yet said how they will vote. Television advertisements were to start Wednesday night in North Dakota against the representative at-large, Earl Pomeroy, accusing him of having "betrayed us" by voting to cut Medicare and warning: "seniors won't forget." A spokesman for the group, Carl Forti, said similar advertisements in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia will begin by Friday.
The National Republican Congressional Committee also was planning to run local ads, probably on the radio, said spokesman Ken Spain.
GOP representatives were told by the chairman of the House Republican Conference, Mike Pence of Indiana, to use the recess to host their own health-care town halls and events with medical workers. Members also received a packet to help them talk about the bill, calling it "Speaker Pelosi's health care takeover" and saying it will hurt seniors, women and business.
On the other side, the Foundation for Patients' Rights, made up of the Service Employees International Union and other groups, aired TV ads Wednesday in the districts of four Republicans who opposed the bill: Mike Castle of Delaware, Patrick Tiberi of Ohio, Mark Kirk of Illinois, and Mary Bono-Mack of California.
MoveOn.org supports the health overhaul and is running TV ads against six House Democrats who opposed it. It also is collecting signatures for a newspaper ad thanking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) for including a government-run health insurance option in the bill.
MoveOn.org announced Wednesday it's airing a TV ad in North Dakota aimed at Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), stressing the need for a public option and featuring a farmer named Janet Jacobson, who, the group says, couldn't afford her health insurance premiums. Mr. Conrad has said a public option would have little chance in the Senate.
Liberal groups want to ensure that lawmakers favoring the bill receive encouragement. After the House bill passed, Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a coalition of groups supporting an overhaul, organized "welcome home" parties. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D., Maine) was greeted at the airport Sunday morning by three dozen supporters bearing flowers, balloons and homemade cookies, according to the Portland Press-Herald.
HCAN, along with the American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), is spending $650,000 on ads thanking 20 House members for their vote. And AFSCME is teaming up with Americans United for Change to spend another $350,000 on 10 additional ads thanking lawmakers for supporting the House bill. These groups are also holding about 140 rallies across the country, most of them Thursday.
House Democratic leaders have provided members with material touting the bill's benefits, including its effects on specific districts.
Rep. Tom Perriello (D., Va.) notes on his Web site that 10,700 people in his district have pre-existing medical conditions and would be helped by the bill. "Whether for or against health care reform, most people in the district asked me to fight for deficit reduction, a fair shake for rural doctors, and no federal funding for abortions," he said. "I helped to score major victories on all three fronts."
Write to Naftali Bendavid at naftali.bendavid@wsj.com and Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@dowjones.com