President Obama made an impassioned case Wednesday for his health-care proposal, delivering a folksy, partisan argument for reform as industry groups prepare a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to defeat it.

 In a boost to President Barack Obama's flagship reform drive, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday aSenate health care bill would cut the deficit by 118 billion dollars.

 Most big employers plan to shift a larger share of health-care costs to their workers next year, according to a survey to be released Thursday.

 A report in Roll Call contains some unwelcome news for Democrats:

"The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress' original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday," the article reads.

 It’s taken Democrats a year to finalize their health care bill, so it should come as no surprise that they’re now fighting about the endgame — including an increasingly public spat about when a final push for passage should take place.

 Way back last summer, when health care reform was still navigating the tricky course of five separate Congressional committees, before the "Tea Party" broke through, before the first of a series of key Presidential speeches on healthcare, Republican Senator Jim DeMint explained what was at stake:

"If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said.

Now here we are, moving toward final passage.   Turns out the President is looking a lot less General Napoleon going down to defeat at Waterloo, and a lot more General Washington crossing the Delaware - rallying an army that's taken serious hits to pull itself together and successfully navigate the difficult waters of final passage.

 Grayson told the House that story Tuesday during an impassioned and personal speech urging fellow lawmakers to support legislation that would allow Americans to buy into Medicare. Grayson introduced a four-page billTuesday that would make that a possibility. He asked would-be opponents to grant Americans the option to buy into the same health care plan that the federal government already offers.

 Googling to my heart's content on a recent eve, I decided to match "health care" with "ram" to see what would happen. What I got was about 9.8 million hits, some of them right on the nose and reflecting the current conservative meme that after more than a year, several votes, countless presidential speeches and having to look upon the face of Harry Reid some 10,000 times, the health-care bill is being "rammed" through Congress -- an absurdity that now has currency through sheer repetition. It is not exactly the renowned vaunted Big Lie, just a miserable little one.

 Here are some things that happened on the night the GOP pushed the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit through the House of Representatives:

A 15-minute vote was scheduled, and at the end of 15 minutes, the Democrats had won. The Republican leadership froze the clock for three hours while they desperately whipped defectors. This had never been done before. The closest was a 15-minute extension in 1987 that then-congressman Dick Cheney called “the most arrogant, heavy-handed abuse of power I’ve ever seen in the 10 years that I’ve been here.”

 Democrats are tying the fate of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul to a fast-track process that will make the bill tough for Republicans to derail in the Senate. But GOP lawmakers will still be able to force votes and make arguments that could give them ammunition for November's congressional elections.

 President Barack Obama is reviving his health care road show Monday, even as he admits every argument has been made and Republicans say voters have already rejected his plan, citing a slew of recent polls.

 Even before the health care showdown begins, Republican lawmakers have begun questioning the fairness of the Senate parliamentarian, the obscure but well respected career expert who must referee from the wings when points are challenged in floor debate.

 It's a truism that when the parties battle, some independents and non-political people turn off to both parties. But that hides the fact that there are winners and losers in the battle for public opinion. One big loser is health insurance companies, but they are only marginally less trusted than Republican Congressional leaders.

 Consumers in Illinois who lose their jobs and have no other option but to buy their own health insurance will get socked this year with premium increases of up to 60 percent, according to state records.

 People say the media is more viscerally sympathetic to Democrats than Republicans. But working in the other direction is the fact that Republicans understand the media much better than Democrats do. Take the reconciliation process. The media is giving blanket coverage to this "controversial" procedure being used by the Democrats. But using reconciliation for a few fixes and tweaks isn't controversial historically, and it's not controversial procedurally. It's only controversial because Republicans are saying it is. Which is good enough, as it turns out. In our political system, if Democrats and Republicans are yelling at each other over something, then for the media, that is, by definition, controversy. This is something Democrats did not understand when George W. Bush was in power.

 President Obama, beginning a full-court press for his health care overhaul, met Thursday with insurance industry executives and House Democrats as party leaders on Capitol Hill struggled to figure out whether they could meet the president’s timetable for enacting legislation within a few weeks.

 Republicans’ lock-step opposition to comprehensive health care reform seems to be as much a matter of politics as principle. But either way, they have made clear that there is no dialogue or any possible compromise that will persuade them to change their minds.

 President Barack Obama, who had planned to focus sharply on jobs this year, will be hitting the road next week for what the White House hopes will really be the final push for health care reform.

 The president who so famously rejects drama and derides political theater walked into the East Room at 1:45 p.m. during one of the wildest political stretches in recent memory. In the past few days, aWhite House spokesman was forced to defend Obama's pugnacious chief of staff and his departed social secretary. A Republican senator held a spending bill hostage, despite protests within his own party. A Democrat considered resigning as chairman of a major House committee, then vowed to stay on, then announced he would take a leave of absence.

 It is my responsibility as an elected official to look out for the people back home, the voters who sent me to Washington. So, after 20 years representing Ohio's 8th District, I know what the good citizens of Montgomery, Preble, and Butler counties really want: someone who engages in the kind of calculated political gamesmanship that increases his standing in the Republican party while simultaneously hindering our country's legislative process at every conceivable turn.

 President Obama offered Tuesday to address some of the concerns expressed by Republicans in the health care debate as the two parties maneuvered for advantage heading into the legislative end game.

 President Obama is unveiling his final health care proposal this afternoon. Here are his remarks, as prepared for delivery.

Good afternoon. We began our push to reform health insurance last March with the doctors and nurses who know the system best, and so it is fitting to be joined by all of you as we bring this journey to a close. 

 Sen. Tom Harkin told POLITICO that Senate Democratic leaders have decided to go the reconciliation route. The House, he said, will first pass the Senate bill after Senate leaders demonstrate to House leaders that they have the votes to pass reconciliation in the Senate.

 President Obama, making his final push for a health care overhaul, called Wednesday for Congress to set aside political gamesmanship and allow an “up-or-down-vote” on the measure, so that Democrats can pass the legislation and he can sign it into law, after nearly a year of debate.

 After the Blair House Summit, a bunch of you e-mailed to ask what I thought of Rep. Paul Ryan's argument that the bill "does not control costs" and it "does not reduce deficits." There's a lot going on in Ryan's remarks (which you can read here), so this might take awhile. But before we dive so deep into the weeds that we're seeing earthworms, here's the basic conclusion: Ryan's critique scores some clean points and also deploys a couple of dirty tricks, but it doesn't damage the bill's claim to reduce deficits and doesn't even engage whether the bill controls costs.

 President Barack Obama is expected to announce Wednesday what his next steps are for advancing health care reform through Congress.

 Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is confident she will be able to get the votes needed to pass sweeping health care legislation in the House, even if it threatens the political careers of some members of her party.

 Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is already infamous for blocking a temporary extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits for out of work Americans. But included in that package is legislation to prevent a mandatory pay cut for doctors--and by standing in its way, he's triggered a 21 percent fee reduction to doctors seeing Medicare patients starting today.

 President Obama this afternoon wrote a letter to Congressional leadership detailing four areas where he thinks Republican ideas can be included in a final health care compromise and pledging to drop the Medicaid deals for Nebraska and Florida from what he proposes tomorrow.

In the aftermath of President Obama's White House health-care summit, it's clear that both sides are certain they are right on substance. Where they differ is over the politics. Democrats and Republicans believe that, in the end, they can win the political argument. As Obama said at the end of Thursday's gathering, "That's what elections are for."

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders over stalled health-care legislation seems to have set the stage for Democrats to press ahead with or without Republicans aboard.

After daylong talks Thursday, here's where I think things stand:

 White House senior adviser David Axelrod called out Republicans who complain about the possibility of using reconciliation for health care reform, saying on CNN last night that the GOP has done the same thing.

 If we’re lucky, Thursday’s summit will turn out to have been the last act in the great health reform debate, the prologue to passage of an imperfect but nonetheless history-making bill. If so, the debate will have ended as it began: with Democrats offering moderate plans that draw heavily on past Republican ideas, and Republicans responding with slander and misdirection.

 Eric Cantor wanks away about the 2000 page bill and complains that some people might have to change coverage, the usual government interference with big business stuff and whatnot. Obama called him out on his "props" mentality while trying to discuss health care and the proper role of government oversight. Democrats have done a horrible job on explaining government's role in our lives can be a great thing instead of the republican line that government is the problem.

 While most of the day was dominated by Republican grandstanding and obstinate talking point sticking-to, there were some real highlights among Democratic participants.

 President Obama challenged Republicans to do some "soul searching" on whether they will support the Democratic health care plan, using the final moments of his health care summit to ask them to put up or shut up. If they don't want to cooperate, the two parties can battle it out at the polls this November, the president said.

 I'm not sure what else was accomplished at Thursday's Blair House summit, but surely one result is that we learned what Republican "leaders" really think about health care and health insurance.

 The big Republican idea to bring down health-care costs is to "let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines." Jon Chait has some commentary here, but I want to simplify a little bit.

 George W. Bush was known for his tendency to think in terms of black and white, good and evil, us and them. This was in opposition, supposedly, to the nuance favored by Democrats. But Barack Obama has his absolutist side, too: Some arguments are right, and some are wrong. Some are legitimate, and some are not.

 It could become an iconic moment in a six-hour health care summit that was at times a sleepy affair: President Obama debating Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)--a medical doctor--on whether guaranteeing catastrophic coverage is a sufficient answer to the country's health care woes.

 So, the media is dissecting the meaning to the summit. I thought Obama did a very good job. It's pretty clear the GOPers really are the Party of No. One of the best moments was when Senator Durbin pointed out that many of the things the Republicans were complaining about were part of their taxpayer financed health care -- and that if they thought it was "socialist plot." they should drop out of the system:

 Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofWahDMEMJs&feature=digest

Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdj5bEXZ_0E&feature=digest

Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPXTXPRBkQE&feature=digest

Part Four: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teEpm9_TJdQ&feature=digest

Part Five: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uI5-GJf1nU&feature=digest

 The main lesson to draw from Thursday’s health care forum is that differences between Democrats and Republicans are too profound to be bridged. That means that it is up to the Democrats to fix the country’s dysfunctional and hugely costly health care system.

 If you have any expectations for the healthcare summit bringing men (mostly) of good faith together to do their job of making good policy for the American people on a bipartisan basis, you can pretty much give up on all that. Better to go into this one with very low expectations. Why? Because the Republicans are showing up.

 Enough of this bipartisan shilly-shally; it's time to crash the health care reform bill over the finish line -- by any means possible -- and move the heck on . . . . Oh, sorry, that was supposed to be the lead for Friday's column, the one coming out afterThursday's White House health care summit. Yet there's no reason not to get an early start. 

 In convening Thursday’s bipartisan health session, President Obama is angling to recreate the kind of spontaneous, unscripted debate that gave him a decided advantage when he took questions on live television at a House Republican retreat in Baltimore last month.

 The healthcare summit that convenes Thursday in Washington has emerged as a high-stakes gambit for President Obama and opposing Republican lawmakers, carrying risks for both sides that could not only alter the outcome of the healthcare debate but also November's midterm elections.

 Congressional Democrats say Thursday's health care summit is likely to clear the final hurdles to passing health care reform - and say that President Obama returning to the issue with a clear focus and a specific health care proposal makes it easier for them to get it done.

 Moments ago, the White House just released a $950 billion health care proposal bridging the differences between the House and Senate health care bills. Administration officials described the President’s legislation as “our take on how to bridge those differences” and explained that the language was informed by meetings between House and Senate officials. “We view this as the opening bid for the health meeting [on Thursday]. The President believes strongly that the meeting would be most productive were we to come to the table with one proposal that addresses these concerns as a pose to different proposals,” White House Communications Director David Pfeiffer explained.

 An new Kaiser Tracking poll shows the country evenly split on the current HCR plan--43/43, but it also finds that "majorities of Americans of all political leanings support several provisions in the health reform proposals in Congress and most attribute delays in passing the legislation to political gamesmanship rather than policy disagreements."

 President Barack Obama on Monday launched a last-ditch effort to revive health care legislation that's unlikely to gain Republican support but may restore Democratic momentum for the bill by placing the president squarely at the center of the messy process of drafting legislation.

 There had been rampant speculation that the White House would narrow its ambitions for health-care legislation after the loss of the Democrats' filibuster-proof Senate majority last month. Instead, the president's proposal is striking for the extent to which it hews to the basic scale and framework of the bills on which Congress has toiled for months.

 Perhaps if Senator Edward Kennedy had lived longer, or the election to choose his successor had turned out differently, President Obama’s decision to have Congress take the lead on health care reform would have looked like a political masterstroke. It didn’t turn out that way.

 Determined to push ahead on major reform of the country's health-care system, the White House today stitched together a series of proposals that have broad, but often malleable, public support. Of course, many of these ideas were in the House and Senate packages that have divided Americans since last summer, putting the focus on the politics of a "reset" as much as on the substance of the new 12-page framework.

 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that Democrats have been "arrogant” in their push to pass health care legislation.

 In a bid to reopen the debate over health care reform, President Obama has arranged a televised bipartisan meeting this Thursday. Republican leaders in Congress have been invited to bring their best ideas for slowing the growth of health care expenditures and expanding the number of insured Americans. The Op-Ed editors asked five conservative thinkers to outline what they believe those ideas should be.

 President Obama will call for new government power to regulate insurance-rate increases as part of comprehensive changes to the health-care system that the White House will unveil on its Web site Monday, senior officials said.

 Some high-level Democrats are betting that the outcome of President Obama’s health care summit meeting this week could hinge on the extent to which they prove to the American public that they have already incorporated Republican ideas into the Democrats’ health care legislation.

 Health insurers across the country are dramatically increasing rates and slashing benefits for many of the estimated 17 million consumers with individual insurance policies, while making it almost impossible to obtain affordable alternatives.

 Over the past year the House and the Senate have been working on an effort to provide health insurance reform that lowers costs, guarantees choices, and enhances quality health care for all Americans. Building on that year-long effort, the President has now put forth a proposal that incorporates the work the House and the Senate have done and adds additional ideas from Republican members of Congress. The President has long said he is open to any good ideas for reforming our health care system, and he looks forward to discussing ideas for further improvements from Republicans and Democrats at an open, bipartisan meeting on Thursday.  

Download the full PDF of the President's key improvements.

 What would make you more likely to vote for Democrats in the 2010 elections: If they pass health care reform that includes a public health insurance option but gets zero Republican votes OR if they pass health care reform without a public option but with some Republican votes?

 Arlen Specter became the 19th Senator to sign onto the public option through reconciliation letter to Harry Reid yesterday, tweeting "I'm proud to sign Sen. Bennet's letter. I support a public option to lower health costs and keep insurance co's honest."

 It's clearly not the details of the plan that's the problem if, when people hear about it, they like it. Hell, 70% of the American people liked the public option. But the White House, for whatever reason, refused to do anything to push for its passage. And now, large majorities like many of the major details in the remaining Senate and House plans. So what's the problem?

 Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months by using a majority-vote maneuver in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.

 When he jousts with Congressional Republicans over health care policy during a televised meeting on Thursday,President Obama will seek to portray his adversaries as sharing many of the broad goals of his legislation and also strive to unify Congressional Democrats to press ahead and adopt a bill, senior White House officials and leading Democrats say.

 Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said last night that if Senate leadership moves forward on a public option, President Obama will "absolutely" fight for it.

 Health insurance premiums are surging — and conservatives fear that the spectacle will reinvigorate the push for reform. On the Fox Business Network, a host chided a vice president of WellPoint, which has told California customers to expect huge rate increases: “You handed the politicians red meat at a time when health care is being discussed. You gave it to them!”