Obama, Barack

While the debate continues in Washington, health care systems nationwide struggle to offset money spent to treat patients who cannot afford to pay their bills.

President Obama is pushing for a final bill, but he didn’t say how he would resolve the questions of policy, procedure and politics facing Congress.

Enmity and acrimony are coursing through a debate with consequences for both sides, as the health care overhaul reaches a crucial vote at 1 a.m. Monday.

The slim margin in the House suggests greater challenges in the Senate, where the majority leader, Harry Reid, is struggling to hold on to all 58 Democrats and two independents.

Handing President Obama a hard-fought victory, the House voted to approve a $1.1 trillion, 10-year plan that Democrats said could be their defining social policy achievement.

After earlier fits and starts, legislation to insure nearly all Americans is approaching votes in the House and in the Senate.

President Obama’s address on health care Wednesday night was an effort to display his authority to a Congress that had begun to question his fortitude.

In blunt language before a rare joint session of Congress, the president presented his most forceful case yet for a sweeping health care overhaul.

In a bid to build support for health care reform, the president added just a few new twists to the principles he laid out last winter.