Tracking Washington: President Barack Obama stepped up pressure on Congress to pass healthcare reform this year, staging a media blitz last week that ended with a televised town hall-style meeting at the White House to rally public support

Tracking Washington: President Barack Obama stepped up pressure on Congress to pass healthcare reform this year, staging a media blitz last week that ended with a televised town hall-style meeting at the White House to rally public support. "This is one of those moments where the stars are aligned. We've got insurers who are interested and doctors who are interested, nurses, patients," Obama told an ABC TV audience gathered in the chandelier-lit East Room of the White House. "It's not going to be a completely smooth ride," he said during the question-and-answer session. "But if we keep our eye on the prize, then I'm absolutely convinced that we can get it done this time." That was a theme he hammered at events throughout the week, including a morning-show interview on ABC and a meeting with state governors who favor an overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system.

The United States spends about 16% of its gross domestic product annually on healthcare but trails many developed countries on important measures like infant mortality and longevity. Some 47 million Americans are uninsured and have little access to the healthcare system. Insurance costs have doubled in under a decade, prompting businesses that provide much of the coverage to complain that the enormity of such costs threatens U.S. global competitiveness. Insurers and doctors have expressed concern about Obama's call for a public insurance option to compete with private insurers, while others have objected to the cost of the trillion-dollar program and a proposal to pay for it in part by raising taxes on some employer-paid insurance benefits.