Today at 1:45PM, the President gives a speech on the White House push for health-care reform in the United States, following on the heels of the major health-care summit last week.  It was clear after that meeting that Democrats would have to go it alone, if they had any intention of passing anything at all to help curb health-care costs while covering more people.  One of the most significant additions to the proposed bill are 4 projects all coming from Republicans, in the hopes of appealing to some of the more conservative Democrats in the party.

Read some excerpts from the Speech below:

"I don't believe we should give government bureaucrats or insurance company bureaucrats more control over health care in America.  I believe it's time to give the American people more control over their own health insurance.  I don't believe we can afford to leave life-and-death decisions about health care to the discretion of insurance company executives alone.  I believe that doctors and nurses like the ones in this room should be free to decide what's best for their patients. 

The proposal I've put forward gives Americans more control over their health care by holding insurance companies more accountable.  It builds on the current system where most Americans get their health insurance from their employer.  If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.  If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.  Because I can tell you that as the father of two young girls, I wouldn't want any plan that interferes with the relationship between a family and their doctor."

"So this is our proposal.  This is where we've ended up.  It's an approach that has been debated and changed and I believe improved over the last year.  It incorporates the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans - including some of the ideas that Republicans offered during the health care summit, like funding state grants on medical malpractice reform and curbing waste, fraud, and abuse in the health care system.  My proposal also gets rid of many of the provisions that had no place in health care reform - provisions that were more about winning individual votes in Congress than improving health care for all Americans." 

"At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.  The American people want to know if it's still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future.  They are waiting for us to act.  They are waiting for us to lead.  And as long as I hold this office, I intend to provide that leadership.  I don't know how this plays politically, but I know it's right.  And so I ask Congress to finish its work, and I look forward to signing this reform into law."

UPDATE: The President began by thanking his health-care team, and said that since the discussion began a year ago, everything that could have been said, has been said about health-care.  He said that the status quo was not a solution to the problems facing America, tried to illustrate that one extreme of the political spectrum wants to dismantle the system to be replaced with a single payer system, while the other wants the free market to make the rules.  He pointed out the different extremes to try and show that he is firmly in the middle, giving examples of portions of the bill that are conservative and liberal in philosophy.

According to the President the proposal changes three things about the existing health-care employer based system.  The first is a clampdown on bad insurance practices, like an end to being refused because of pre-existing conditions, being dropped from your insurance for getting sick, and an end to arbitrary insurance premium hikes.  The second is that uninsured individuals and small businesses will be able to get the same choices in health-care insurance as members of Congress.  This would be done through the creation of insurance market exchanges in each state so that individuals and small businesses can enjoy the benefits of being a part of a large insurance pool with lots of leverage to negotiate prices.  The President added that if you still couldn't afford health costs, there is also a large middle class health insurance tax cut to help subsidize those who can't afford premiums in the newly proposed market place for individuals the ability to choose from a greater variety of plans for a cheaper price.

As was mentioned above, the President described the proposal as one with both Democratic and Republican ideas, and reminded the audience that the CBO had scored this plan as reducing the deficit by $1 trillion dollars over the next two decades.  He also spoke directly about the individual mandate, which has been highly controversial because it forces everyone to buy some level of health insurance, but he said that to lower costs and cut down the deficit, it was imperative that everyone be in the insurance pool.

He ended by reiterating his opening remarks, saying that the debate is over, he has done everything in his power to make the case for reform, and now wants an up or down vote.  The President made it clear that he doesn't care how the politics plays out by choosing reconciliation to pass the bill, saying that he only cares about fixing a broken system that bankrupts people every single day. 

President Obama said, "I don't know how this plays out politically, but I know its right.  Let's get it done!" 

UPDATE #2: Watch the entire Speech Below: