Obama in final push for health reform

PRESIDENT Barack Obama was expected to tell the nation in a prime-time address precisely how he wants to expand healthcare, pitching a fresh argument – but, to liberal disappointment, no demand – for a government-run insurance option.

Opening a final push for his top domestic priority, Obama pushed for a healthcare 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.

“We do intend to get something done this year,” Obama said on ABC’s Good Morning America yesterday. Even as he prepared to speak earlier this morning, the leader of the influential Senate Finance Committee raced to broker an overhaul proposal with both Democratic and Republican input.

And Republicans pressed their case that Obama’s sweeping approach won’t wash.

“The status quo is unacceptable. But if August showed us anything it’s that so are the alternatives that the administration and Democrats in Congress have proposed,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in prepared remarks. “That means sensible, step-by-step reforms, not more trillion-dollar grand schemes.”

Discussing Obama’s thinking on what is sure to be one of the most closely watched portions of the address, a senior administration official said the president would make a case for why he still believes a public insurance plan is the best way to introduce greater competition into the system.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Obama told her and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid during a White House meeting on Tuesday that his message to critics of such an option would essentially be: “If you have a better idea, put it on the table.”

But the White House official also said Obama would not insist that such an option be included in any final package or signal willingness to use his veto over the divisive issue.

“I’m open to new ideas,” the president said in an interview yesterday in which he previewed the themes of his speech. “We’re not being rigid and ideological about this thing.”

That stance is sure to be viewed as far too timid by the liberal base of Obama’s Democratic Party, which is increasingly invested in and fighting for the creation of a government insurance option. Liberal lawmakers say they won’t vote for legislation that doesn’t include a public plan.

But with Republicans and many moderate Democrats saying they won’t vote for one with it, the issue has become Obama’s main quandary as he seeks to salvage a healthcare overhaul this year.