Obama: Health vote is about ‘character of our country’

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama delivered a closing argument for the goal to which he has devoted much of his presidency, urging lawmakers on Friday to pass a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system in a long-awaited vote this weekend.

With the vote hanging on the support of just a handful of wavering Democrats, the president summoned both pragmatism and principle to sway the undecideds to his side.

Speaking at a rally at a suburban Washington college, Obama emphasized the bill's provisions that would go into effect this year, including those banning insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions, dropping coverage when a person becomes ill or imposing annual or lifetime limits on care, requiring free preventive care and allowing children to stay on parents' policies into their 20s. He said "the insurance industry will continue to run amok" if the vote fails.

The president will meet with the entire House Democratic caucus Saturday, one day before an expected vote on the overhaul bill, according to NBC News.

Obama urged lawmakers to reach beyond today's disputes and grasp the history-making aspect of the effort.

"It's a debate that is not only about the cost of our health care but the character of our country, about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time, about whether we're still a nation that gives its citizens a chance to reach their dreams," Obama said.

Pointing to contentious debates decades ago over creating the now-popular pension and health care for the elderly programs, he said that "when we have faced such decisions in our past, this nation has chosen time and again to extend its promise to more of its people."

"I know this will be a tough vote. I know that Washington has treated this debate like a sport," he said.

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"Every vote around here is a heavy lift," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said. "We don't have a rubber-stamp Congress or a rubber-stamp (Democratic) caucus. So, we have our full airing of issues."

The White House and Democratic leaders trumpeted two new converts to their cause, as retiring Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., and first-term Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., announced their support after opposing an earlier version of the legislation last year. Markey cited improved deficit cuts. Gordon said his backing was unrelated to a new provision sending higher Medicaid payments to Tennessee hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured.

Democratic Rep. John Boccieri of Ohio is also switching his vote to "yes." The freshman lawmaker announced his decision at a Capitol Hill news conference on Friday. Boccieri opposed the House version of the bill last November.