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Obama urges Congress action on health care
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-10 09:36

Obama urges Congress action on health care
US President Barack Obama (L) delivers a speech on healthcare before a joint session of Congress, as Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), listen in Washington, September 9, 2009. [Agencies] 

Obama appealed for a health care overhaul that provides new and crucial protections for people who already have insurance, affordable access to coverage to those without, and reduced spending for families, businesses and government.

Some Americans who have suffered from high costs and insurance practices sat with first lady Michelle Obama during the speech, and Obama mentioned them in his remarks. Vicki Kennedy, the widow of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, was also on the guest list. The Democratic senator, who died last month, had made health care a career-long cause.

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Obama made health care reform a priority when he ran for president last year. The United States is the only developed country without a universal program of health care. As many as 50 million Americans lack health insurance.

Despite Obama's enormous popularity on taking office, he has struggled to win support through a difficult summer. Opponents have packed lawmakers' town hall meetings, denouncing Obama's plans. Some opposition was driven by Web-fueled falsehoods, such as claims that "death panels" would determine the fate of elderly patients. But there were more legitimate concerns about how an overhaul would affect the quality of health care and whether it would further swell the government's huge deficit.

Obama said the changes he has in mind would cost about $900 billion over decade, "less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans" passed during the Bush administration.

Obama has had to balance conflicting goals. He favors a "public option", a government-run health program that would compete with private insurers. But he also wants the support of moderate Republicans who oppose the public option.

Several congressional panels have been working on health care bills, but only one -- the Senate Finance Committee -- offered a reasonable prospect for a bipartisan compromise. But the panel's Democratic chairman, Max Baucus, said earlier Wednesday that a deal was unlikely and that he would introduce his own proposal next week.

Liberals have been urging Obama to use his large Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress to disregard Republican objections and push through a plan with a public option. Some have threatened to vote against any bill that doesn't have one.

But it is not clear that Obama can win approval for a government plan, especially since some conservative Democrats are also wary of it. In his speech, Obama was expected to argue for the public option, but not demand it.

"I'm open to new ideas," Obama told ABC television. "We're not being rigid and ideological about this thing."