Obama makes final appeal before Sunday's health care vote

Mar 20, 2010, 22:12 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama was on Capitol Hill Saturday rallying the support of Democratic lawmakers ahead of a crucial vote on health care reform.

'Let's get this thing done,' Obama said, urging them to back the measure in the House of Representatives.

The House is expected to vote Sunday on a package of reforms aimed at imposing new controls on the practices of insurance companies and extending coverage to more than 30 million Americans who lack health insurance.

There have been countless 'pivotal' moments in the United States' long-running debate on reforming health care. Sunday's vote is perhaps the biggest yet.

Obama and his fellow leaders in the Democratic Party have been engaged in a last-minute scramble to win support for their top domestic priority, which has sharply divided the country during more than a year of often-bitter debate.

'This piece of historic legislation is built on the private insurance system that we have now and runs straight down the centre of American political thought,' Obama told House Democrats.

'We are making sure that the system of private insurance works for ordinary families,' he said, calling the legislation a 'patient's bill of rights on steroids' and 'the toughest insurance reform in history.'

Urging lawmakers to pass the bill, Obama said: 'If you agree that the system is not working for ordinary families, if you've heard the same stories that I've heard everywhere, all across the country, then help us fix the system.

'Don't do it for me ... Do it for all those people who are struggling.'

Republicans are united in opposition, the public is divided, and many moderate Democrats are wavering over whether to support the controversial health reforms.

'The American people do not want any part of this,' John Boehner, the top Republican in the House, told reporters Friday. 'If anyone thinks the American people are going to forget this vote, just watch.'

Boehner is hoping public anger will translate into electoral gains in November, when one-third of the Senate and the entire House will be up for grabs in mid-term congressional elections. Democrats fear the failure to pass the reforms would be even more damaging, and are gambling the storm will pass once health care is actually approved.

Yet Sunday will not be the final step in the long-running saga. The House will vote on a version of the legislation that was approved by the Senate in December, but will also adopt a round of changes that will have to go back to the Senate for final approval.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan arbiter of legislative costs, on Thursday estimated that the reforms will cost 940 billion dollars over 10 years and expand coverage to about 32 million more Americans.

The costs will be offset by a mix of new taxes and savings from within the system. The CBO predicted the entire bill would actually lower the federal budget deficit by 138 billion dollars over the next 10 years and 1 trillion dollars in the following decade.

The CBO's positive score encouraged some fiscally conservative Democrats to come out in support of the legislation on Friday, though opponents still doubt the Obama administration will find the savings it claims.