Obama: 'No one should go broke because they got sick'

WASHINGTON -- President Obama told Congress on Wednesday that while he is not the first president to take up the cause of health care reform, "I am determined to be the last."

President Obama is delivering an address to a joint session of Congress to present the most detailed description of his idea of health reform.

Obama has been criticized as the health care debate has devolved into rancorous town hall meetings and a partisan split over reform plans. Obama has also faced a split in his own party over how to best go about reforming the nation's health care system.

"Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action," Obama said. "Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care."

While much of the debate over health care has been over a government-backed public option, Obama said that's not the only problem plaguing the system.

"Those who do have insurance have never had less security and stability than they do today," he said of Americans who have lost their insurance when they have lost their jobs or have had their coverage dropped when they have suffered an illness.

Obama will say that there is agreement on about 80 percent of what needs to be done, "but what we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government."

"Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics," he will say.

Obama was tweaking his pivotal health care address right up until the last, top aides said. He worked on the speech late into Tuesday night in the White House residence, bringing a new draft for his staff to work through Wednesday morning, they said. He even took a first draft of the speech to Camp David this weekend.

Obama's address to Congress will be carried live on CNN and CNN.com/Live beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

In his address Obama gave details "that every American needs to know" about his plan.

If you already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in his plan will require you to change the coverage you already have.

The plan would bar insurance companies from dropping or refusing coverage for a pre-existing condition.

"As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most," Obama said.

And it will eliminate "some arbitrary cap" on the amount of coverage over a year or a lifetime.

"No one should go broke because they got sick," Obama said.

Speaking to those who don't already have coverage, Obama said his plan calls for a new "insurance exchange," to allow individuals in small business to shop for health insurance at competitive rates.

"If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage," Obama said. "If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage."

Because Democrats enjoy majorities in both houses of Congress, Obama could get a plan passed if Democrats vote as a solid block. And while he has said he wants a bipartisan solution, White House officials have said the administration is prepared to push through a plan without Republican support.

Obama also attacked "bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost," addressing the so-called "death panels" and that reforms would insure illegal immigrants.

"And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place," he said.

Rep. Charles Boustany, a lawmaker from Lousiana and a cardiothoracic surgeon, will be delivering the Republican response to Obama's address.

Boustany will agree that a lot of work is needed to lower the cost of health care for Americans, but will argue the bill Democrats proposed in July will further bog down the system, without offering much help.

"I read the bill Democrats passed through committee in July. It creates 53 new government bureaucracies, adds hundreds of billions to our national debt, and raises taxes on job-creators by $600 billion," Boustany will say according to released excerpts from his response. "And, it cuts Medicare by $500 billion, while doing virtually nothing to make the program better for our seniors."

Several administration officials said Obama will make a strong push for a public option but will not draw a line in the sand over a government-run insurance plan.

The public option is a government-funded, government-run health care option, similar to Medicare. Under the plan, people would pay premiums 10 percent to 20 percent less than private insurance.

That leaves the door open for Congress to come up with another option, such as a co-op or a "trigger," in which a public option would kick in only if insurance companies fail to make reforms within a defined period.

"The president still believes the public option is the best way to bring choice and competition," the senior administration official said. "It's how we bring security and stability to hundreds of millions of Americans."

A second senior administration official said that while the president will use the speech to reach out to Republicans in hopes of a last-minute bipartisan compromise, he also plans to get tough with the other side by challenging them to step up and meet him halfway instead of letting things continue as they are.

"The defenders of the status quo are bankrupting America," the administration official said of Republicans.

The address will be Obama's second speech to the full Congress since he took office in January. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid formally invited Obama to make the address, as required.

Several officials also said that scheduling the high-profile speech also prodded Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, to edge closer to securing a deal with the "Gang of Six" senators on his panel. Baucus to unveil health care bill next week

The senior administration official noted that even luminaries in the Republican party are acknowledging that there is a "health care crisis," citing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.Palin gets tough on health care proposals

That same senior administration official said both Democratic and Republican lawmakers now believe "something has to get done" because doing nothing "would be a political failure."

The speech, analysts said, will probably be one of the most important to date.

"Wednesday night's health care speech may be one of the toughest he has faced," CNN contributor David Gergen said.

Obama has issued broad reform ideas, but has left most of the specific legislative details to leaders in Congress, who have faced sometimes contentious negotiations.

A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed Americans are evenly split over whether to support or oppose Obama's health care plan.

Six in 10 younger Americans support the plan; six in 10 senior citizens oppose it.