Obama on health bill: 'This has to get done'

WASHINGTON -- President Obama repeatedly reassured a skeptical public Wednesday that an overhaul of the nation's health care system will put "more money in people's pockets," improve care for patients and offer peace of mind.

"This has to get done," he said during a prime-time news conference from the White House, the latest in a slew of appearances aimed at pushing Congress to act and selling his ideas to the public.

Obama takes his campaign on the road today, with a town hall-style meeting in Cleveland and a tour of the famed Cleveland Clinic.

Meanwhile, members of Congress will continue to grapple with how to pay for changes designed to control costs and extend health coverage to the 46 million uninsured.

"I want to cover everybody," Obama said, rejecting the idea that a final bill might fail to extend coverage to nearly everybody.

Obama focused less on extending coverage to those without insurance, however, and more on controlling costs for those who have it, calling a curb on health care inflation critical for families' pocketbooks and the nation's economy.

"If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket," he said, speaking directly to television viewers. "If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day."

Concerns about the high cost of overhaul proposals — estimated to be $1 trillion or more over the first 10 years — prompted Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to withdraw Wednesday from a bipartisan group of senators that has been trying to draft legislation acceptable to Democrats and Republicans.

Hatch criticized the "rushed approach to health care" prompted by Obama's demand that Congress vote on health care bills before its August vacation, and he expressed concern that Democrats would pass a plan that puts the economy at greater risk. "I'm just deathly concerned about the high costs of this bill," he said. "We have to face some realities."