SNAP ANALYSIS: Obama urges action on healthcare

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama planned to say on Wednesday that it is time to set aside political bickering and approve a healthcare overhaul.

Here is an analytical look at speech excerpts released by the White House (the excerpts did not address Obama's support for a controversial government-run insurance plan that he is expected to talk about in his full address):

* "Our collective failure to meet this challenge -- year after year, decade after decade -- has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans."

Obama is trying to create a sense of urgency on the need to revamp the healthcare system to persuade uneasy Americans that now is the time to take on the issue.

* "Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics. Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge."

Obama is blaming Republicans for the healthcare standoff in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress, although internal Democratic divisions over the size and cost of healthcare legislation has held up action.

* "Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care."

The president is trying to call an end to a fractious debate that raged throughout the summer and caused Americans to have doubts about his handling of healthcare.

* "First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA (Veterans Administration) nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have."

Obama is trying to assure Americans that their healthcare plans would be safe under the Democrats' plans. Many critics take issue with this kind of statement, saying there would be nothing to prevent employers from switching their employees to a government-run insurance option if Congress creates one.

* "I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it. I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now."

This could be a veiled warning that he will push a plan through Congress with or without Republican support. Some Democrats have talked about resorting to procedural tactics to gain passage of the plan in the Senate by a simple majority.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, editing by Anthony Boadle)