Outsourcing

After years of shipping data-processing, accounting and other back-office work abroad, some healthcare companies are starting to shift clinical services and decision-making on medical care overseas, primarily to India and the Philippines. Some of the jobs being sent abroad include so-called pre-service nursing, in which nurses at insurance firms, for example, help assess patient needs and determine treatment methods. Outsourcing such tasks goes beyond earlier steps by healthcare firms to farm out reading of X-rays and other diagnostic tests to health professionals overseas.

It was one of Barack Obama's best lines - and best moments - in the 2008 presidential campaign. He had said we could save as much oil as we could get from domestic drilling if everyone maintained their cars and had their tires properly inflated. Now, that was hyperbole, but when conservatives, including his opponent, Sen. John McCain, tried to turn tire gauges into a symbol of Obama's pointy-headed liberalism and the sum total of his energy plan (if only!), Obama stood his ground.

WASHINGTON -- Not only is President Obama not apologizing for his campaign attacks on Mitt Romney's leadership at Bain Capital, but congressional Democrats are poised to provide reinforcement by voting later this week on legislation that would end tax breaks for outsourcing. Gutting the tax break and using the money to reward companies who return operations to the U.S. were among the items on Obama's economic "to do" list to Congress. The decision by Democratic leaders in the Senate to take up the bill shows the increased coordination between the White House and the president's allies as they make a concerted push to define the political narrative heading toward November.

Re "Outsourcing's bum rap," Opinion, July 12 Michael Kinsley is right that outsourcing jobs is not necessarily bad. The problem for American workers is not the loss of jobs that pay little. The more serious problem is that we have not invested in education and training to replace those losses with jobs that pay well. The Republicans' obsession with low taxes is forcing cities to declare bankruptcy. Schools are laying off teachers and cutting instruction days. For college students, tuition increases regularly.

GLEN ALLEN, Va. -- Apparently, there will be no apology. President Obama's response to rival Mitt Romney's repeated requests for those two little words was clear on Saturday. As the president campaigned across Virginia, Obama kept up the attacks on Romney's tenure at Bain Capital, accusing the Republican of investing in companies that “pioneered” the practice of shipping jobs overseas. “I don't want a pioneer in outsourcing. I want some in-sourcing,” Obama said as he stood, soaked, in a downpour at an outdoor rally in Glen Allen, a suburb of Richmond.

Boy, am I steamed: I just found out that the U.S. Olympic team's opening ceremony outfits were made in China! I'm so mad as I write this that I'm in danger of breaking the keyboard of my computer, which was made in -- oops -- China. This news has had me upset all morning. First, I heard it on my Chinese-made radio. My wife was out, so I texted her on my made-in-China cellphone. When I'm this mad, I need a workout. I pulled on my made-in-Vietnam running shoes and went for a jog. It didn't help.

"Outsourcing" has become such a dirty word that it's hard to believe there could actually be something called the International Assn. of Outsourcing Professionals . What next? The Society of Professional Child Molesters? The IAOP's modest claim is that it is "the leading professional association for organizations and individuals involved in transforming the world of business through outsourcing, offshoring and shared services. " The group promotes a list of the 100 "best" outsourcing companies, and even has an annual "Miss Outsourcing" beauty pageant.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Mitt Romney brought his presidential campaign to the West Slope of Colorado on Tuesday, looking to energize his base here in a heavily Republican part of the state and highlight the continuing struggle to bring back jobs in a region where unemployment is higher than other parts of the nation. In a question-and-answer session with voters at Central High School, the unofficial Republican nominee took aim at President Obama's tax plans - stating that his rival's proposal to extend the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for those making up to $250,000 - but not upper-income Americans - would harm “job creators.” The tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year.

BOSTON -- The Obama campaign is taking its "outsourcing" warning to the airwaves. New television advertisements airing in three states accuse Mitt Romney of being a potential "outsourcer in chief," a buy that represents Team Obama's latest attempt to capitalize on the business practices of the GOP presidential candidate at Bain Capital. Two of the 30-second spots, airing in Iowa and Virginia , highlight the Washington Post report that characterized the former Massachusetts governor's private equity firm as "pioneers of outsourcing," investing in firms "that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage countries.