Obama to affirm commitment to health reform: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will reaffirm his commitment to tackling healthcare reform this year, despite the economic crisis, in a speech to Congress on Tuesday night, an administration official said.

Obama is not expected to offer new proposals, but will reaffirm that he considers the issue critical to the country's long-term economic health, the official said.

"This will really sort of be a scene setter," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The policy details are to come and we'll have a lot of discussion of that over the course of the next several days."

Obama's budget for the 2010 fiscal year, due out on Thursday, will begin to lay out a timeline for achieving many of the domestic priorities he pushed during the campaign.

Sources familiar with the administration's thinking have said the blueprint will reflect Obama's interest in moving forward on a pledge to expand health insurance coverage to the 46 million Americans who lack it.

The United States spends more than $7,400 per person on health care each year -- about 16 percent of Gross Domestic Product. But costs are rising rapidly and Americans in general do not get better care than people in countries that spend less, studies show.

Obama will use the speech to say he plans to work to lower costs and expand coverage so that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, the administration official said.

"That reform is something that is long overdue and has significant consequences for our economy because those costs are rising so quickly," he said.

(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)