Obama tries to rally health care cooperation
WASHINGTON -- President Obama alternately wooed and lashed out at critics of his landmark health care plan Wednesday in an effort to regain momentum lost during a month of growing public doubt and anxiety.
Saying he wanted to succeed where presidents since Theodore Roosevelt have failed, Obama told a joint session of Congress and millions watching on TV that he's willing to compromise — but unwilling to start over or settle for the status quo.
"I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last," he said. "The time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action."
The 47-minute speech, interrupted dozens of times by mostly Democratic applause and standing ovations, came at a titular moment in the health care debate: Obama's goal of remaking the U.S. health care system has advanced through four congressional committees — further than ever before. Yet for the past month, it's been losing support in public-opinion polls and among the moderate Democrats whose votes may be key to passage.
Obama used Wednesday's speech to get specific about his plan. He endorsed tax credits for those who need help buying insurance, mandates that individuals get insurance and large companies provide it to workers or pay a fee, and a new tax on the most expensive insurance policies. The plan, he said, would cost about $900 billion over 10 years.
Obama also tossed out olive branches. He said he was negotiable on creating a government-backed insurance plan to compete with private insurers, perhaps by forming public cooperatives instead or delaying implementation. However, he said, "I will not back down on the basic principle that if Americans can't find affordable coverage, we will provide you with a choice."
He voiced support for changes that could reduce the financial impact of medical malpractice claims. He backed a mechanism that would require him to find cost savings by 2012 rather than risk increasing the federal deficit, estimated at $1.6 trillion this year alone. And he even endorsed an idea made last year by the man he defeated for the presidency, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
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