Enlarge imageBy John Whitesides and Donna Smith
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic leaders promised swift action on a healthcare overhaul on Thursday after a high-stakes speech by President Barack Obama that earned good public reviews but appeared to change few minds in Congress.
Democrats hoped Obama's prime-time address to a joint session of Congress would dispel public scepticism and generate new momentum for his drive to reshape the $2.5 trillion (1.5 trillion pound) healthcare industry.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said many of the plans outlined by Obama mirrored the panel's proposals and helped build confidence among the "Gang of Six" negotiators trying to craft a bipartisan reform plan.
"The president's speech breathed new life into what we are doing," Baucus said during a break in a negotiating session. He plans to push forward with a bill next week even if he wins no Republican support.
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House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she was confident Obama would sign a healthcare reform bill, his top domestic priority, by year's end.
During a morning appearance before a group of nurses, Obama renewed his call for urgency in the healthcare debate.
"Now is the time to act and I will not permit reform to be postponed or imperilled by the usual ideological diversions," Obama said. "We have talked this issue to death, year after year, decade after decade, and the time for talk is winding down, the time for bickering has passed."
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed 67 percent of respondents supported Obama's healthcare reforms after the speech, compared with 53 percent beforehand, and other snap polls showed gains for Obama.
One in seven who watched the address to Congress changed their minds on the president's plan, according to the CNN poll, which had an error margin of 5 percentage points and surveyed more Democrats than Republicans.
REPUBLICANS STILL COOL TO PLAN
Republican reaction was far cooler. Senator John McCain was concerned about the high cost of the Obama plan.
"The math doesn't add up and the record doesn't add up," McCain, who lost last year's presidential election to Obama, said on NBC's "Today" show. "There is very little if anything in this package that calls for real spending reduction and $1 trillion is basically what it's going to cost."
Obama hoped his speech would reclaim control of a debate that has been bogged down in Congress amid a flood of criticism and disputes even as his own public approval figures dropped.
He said the overhaul would cut costs, improve care and regulate insurers to protect consumers while expanding coverage. He repeated his pledge the proposal, which would cost $900 billion over 10 years, would not increase the budget deficit.
Obama accepted an apology from Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina, who shouted "you lie!" when Obama said his plan would not insure illegal immigrants.
"I'm a big believer in that we all make mistakes," Obama said. "He apologized quickly and without equivocation and I'm appreciative of that."
Democrats said Wilson's opponent in next year's congressional elections had received 5,000 individual donations totalling $200,000 since the incident.
Shares of U.S. health insurers climbed on Wall Street as analysts said Obama's speech contained no surprises and indicated a government-run insurance option opposed by the industry was less likely to pass.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint Inc, the two largest health insurers, rose about 1 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Aetna was up more than 2 percent and Cigna jumped more than 4 percent.
Obama "demonized insurers several times but didn't add anything new to the debate," Wells Fargo analyst Matt Perry said in a research note. "Overall we view the speech as neutral to insurers."
The Census Bureau released new data estimating the number of people living in the United States without health insurance climbed to 46.3 million in 2008 from 45.7 million a year earlier, a modest rise that was unlikely to alter the argument over basic changes in the U.S. insurance system.
Obama adjusted his goals for coverage during his speech to Congress, saying his aim was to win health insurance for 30 million who are now uninsured, rather than 46 million. A White House official said the new figure does not include illegal immigrants and a smaller group who would refuse insurance even when available.
In his speech, Obama spelled out what he wanted in any final bill passed by Congress, including affordable coverage for all Americans and creation of an insurance exchange where individuals and small businesses could shop for policies.
He reiterated his support for a government-run insurance plan -- the so-called "public option" -- that has drawn strong opposition from critics who say it would harm insurance companies and amount to a government takeover of the industry. But he said the lack of a public option in any final bill would not be a deal-breaker.
Three committees in the House of Representatives and one other Senate panel have completed work on a healthcare bill, leaving the Senate Finance Committee as the final hurdle before each chamber takes up the issue.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Thomas Ferraro, Andy Sullivan, Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Bill Trott)
