Obama implores Congress to save health care overhaul, takes part of blame for near collapse

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Obama appeals to Congress to save health care bill

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is imploring lawmakers not to abandon his health care overhaul, and he’s also taking part of the blame for its near collapse.

In his State of the Union address, the president urged Democrats and Republicans to let temperatures cool and take another look at the legislation that passed the House and Senate last year. Obama said his administration and Congress have gotten closer than ever to insuring millions more.

The legislation is stalled in Congress after Democrats lost a Massachusetts Senate seat last week and their filibuster-proof majority.

Obama said: “Do not walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people.”

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama had hoped a historic victory on health care would be the centerpiece of his State of the Union speech Wednesday. Instead, he appealed to jittery Democrats to save what was once his top domestic initiative, now stalled in Congress.

Invoking those who will lose their health insurance, face costly premiums or be denied the care they need, Obama said, “I will not walk away from these Americans. And neither should the people in this chamber.” The White House released excerpts of his remarks in advance of his speech to a joint session of Congress.

The loss of their 60th Senate seat in a Massachusetts special election last week cost Democrats the ability to override Republican opposition in Congress, leaving them with no clear path to finish Obama’s sweeping health care bill just when it was on the verge of passage.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., floated a new strategy Wednesday: passing some smaller bills that reflect popular proposals even as she continues working with the White House and the Senate to move comprehensive legislation.

According to Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., the House could vote to repeal the insurance industry’s decades-old antitrust exemption, and may also act to revamp the way Medicare pays hospitals and doctors. Neither of those measures would expand coverage, but the Medicare changes could improve the quality of care and reduce costs over time. The House could vote within weeks on the antitrust measure.

It’s definitely not where Democrats had hoped to be.

Before Massachusetts, they were envisioning the ultimate Washington photo-op: a beaming president striding into the House chamber to give his speech following a final vote to pass health care overhaul.

“That didn’t happen,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., one of the authors of the House bill. “That’s the legislative process.”

Although Miller believes Democrats will, in the end, pull together and pass comprehensive legislation to expand coverage and try to control costs, other lawmakers worry they will have nothing to show voters for more than a year of grueling work. They want Obama to restore the sense of open-ended possibilities that accompanied his election.

“The president is a strong persuader, and I think it makes an awful lot of difference, and I think he will bring everybody together,” said Rep. John Larson, D-Conn. “Obama’s gotta be Obama.”

Until now, Obama hasn’t been able to make a convincing case that the 2,000-page Democratic bills will improve the lot of average working families already covered by health insurance.

The president previewed his message last week in recession-weary Ohio, when he told an audience of workers and business people it’s not possible to deliver popular reforms such as eliminating insurance denials for pre-existing medical problems unless nearly all Americans are covered. The nation would be better off with a big bill that makes deep changes in the health care system, he argued, rather than scaled-back legislation that borrows from a menu of political consensus items.

White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said the president will reaffirm his belief but will not lay out a game plan for breaking the impasse in Congress. It’s a difficult line to walk, since Obama needs lawmakers to move as quickly as possible. Time is working against his health care plan, especially with primaries and midterm elections approaching.

Pelosi said that giving up is not an option. “I don’t see that as a possibility,” she said. “We will have something.”

Neither of two remaining routes to get comprehensive legislation on Obama’s desk are easy. One involves Senate Democrats using a special budget-related procedure that requires only 51 votes to make changes in the bill acceptable to the House. Two centrist senators have already said they would oppose the maneuver, which is certain to enrage critics on the political right.

To complicate matters, the changes Pelosi is demanding in the Senate bill would cost $300 billion over 10 years, according to a senior Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks between House and Senate leaders. The changes include easing a tax on high-cost insurance plans, closing the Medicare prescription coverage gap and extending to all states Medicaid deals that Nebraska and Louisiana got.

The other solution would be to lower expectations and pass a bill that might attract support from Republicans and political independents. It wouldn’t come close to covering all Americans, but it could smooth some of the rough edges of today’s coverage problems, and provide help for small businesses to get and keep health insurance. Republicans, however, may not be willing to help.

Republicans are getting ready for a new phase in the debate. House GOP members on Wednesday signed a “Declaration of Health Care Independence” that lists their priorities, including no new mandates and legislation that’s fully paid for.

Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Erica Werner contributed to this report.