WASHINGTON — President Obama confronted a critical Congress and a skeptical nation on Wednesday, decrying the “scare tactics” of his opponents and presenting his most forceful case yet for a sweeping health care overhaul that has eluded Washington for generations.专科
A blog from The New York Times that tracks the health care debate as it unfolds.
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In blunt language before a rare joint session of Congress, Mr. Obama vowed that he would “not waste time” with those who have made a political calculation to oppose him, but left the door open to working with Republicans to cut health costs and expand coverage to millions of Americans.
“The time for bickering is over,” the president declared. “The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action.”
The president was greeted by booming applause from Democrats and polite handshakes from Republicans. But the political challenge at hand soon became clear as several Republican lawmakers heckled Mr. Obama when he dismissed the notion that so-called death panels would deny care to the elderly.
“It is a lie, plain and simple,” Mr. Obama declared.
“You lie!” Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled back after Mr. Obama said it was not true that the Democrats were proposing to provide health coverage to illegal immigrants.
The 47-minute speech was an effort by Mr. Obama to regain his political footing on health care, his highest legislative priority. He insisted throughout that he had not closed the door on reaching a bipartisan compromise. He gave a nod to Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and embraced his proposal to create a high-risk pool to help cover people with pre-existing conditions against catastrophic expenses.
And, with the widow of Senator Edward M. Kennedy sitting in the House gallery, the president appealed to the nation’s conscience, reading a letter Mr. Kennedy had written in May with instructions that it be delivered to the president upon his death. In it, Mr. Kennedy wrote that health care was “above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”
Presidents since Theodore Roosevelt have been advocating universal health care without success, and Mr. Obama vowed to fare better. “I am not the first president to take up this cause,” he said, “but I am determined to be the last.”
The speech came after a rocky August for the White House, in which many lawmakers held public meetings that deteriorated into shouting matches over health care.
After months of insisting he would leave the specifics to lawmakers, Mr. Obama used the speech to present his most detailed outline yet of a plan he said would provide “security and stability” to those who have insurance and cover those who do not, all without adding to the federal deficit.
The president placed a price tag on the plan of about $900 billion over 10 years, which he said was “less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.” But he devoted much of his address to making the case for why such a plan is necessary, and sought to reassure the elderly and the Americans who already have insurance that they would not be worse off.
As expected, Mr. Obama repeated his support for a government insurance plan to compete with the private sector, though he said he would consider alternatives to the “public option.”
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