Obama presses forward in health overhaul efforts

The Wall Street Journal: "President Barack Obama made a final push for comprehensive health-care legislation, calling on lawmakers to schedule a vote in the next few weeks." Obama urged Congress to "press ahead with a comprehensive bill," which will involve using reconciliation. "But he didn't use the term reconciliation, instead calling for a simple 'up or down vote.'" He appealed to public frustration with insurance companies and emphasized that he had included GOP ideas into his plan (Meckler, 3/3).

Kaiser Health News has posted the full text of President Obama's Wednesday speech.

The Washington Post: In a speech delivered at the White House, "Obama defended health-care reform as crucial to American families and businesses, saying it would lower skyrocketing costs and end abuses by insurance companies, including discrimination against people with preexisting conditions." He rejected calls from the GOP to start fresh "with an incremental approach" and signalled "support for a Democratic legislative strategy that includes a controversial procedure known as reconciliation" (Branigin, 3/2).  

Bloomberg: "The plan includes the 'best ideas' of Democrats and Republicans and won't interfere in the relationship between doctors and patients, Obama said in excerpts of remarks he's scheduled to deliver this afternoon (Chen and Jensen, 3/2).

Reuters: Obama "will also say he does not believe government or insurance company bureaucrats should have more control over healthcare" (Colvin, 3/3).