UPDATE 5-Obama lobbies U.S. doctors on healthcare reforms
For full coverage on healthcare reform click [ID:nN02516257]
* Obama compares healthcare system to GM
* Hits out at critics of public insurance plan
* Says plan will keep insurance companies "honest" (Adds Senator Baucus interview)
CHICAGO, June 15 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama warned doctors on Monday the U.S. healthcare system was a ticking time bomb and urged them to support his overhaul, which includes a public insurance plan that many of them view with skepticism.
Obama took his healthcare campaign to the annual meeting of the influential American Medical Association, which represents 250,000 doctors and has historically been opposed to a bigger government role in healthcare.
"If we do not fix our healthcare system, America may go the way of GM; paying more, getting less, and going broke," Obama said, likening the healthcare system to struggling carmaker General Motors, which has filed for bankruptcy protection.
"It is a ticking time bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America," said Obama, who wants a reform bill on his desk by October. [ID:nN15221549]
The U.S. healthcare industry costs about $2.5 trillion annually but leaves 46 million Americans uninsured and with little access to medical care.
Debate has sharpened over elements of the overhaul being drafted by Congress, including how to pay for the plan and whether it should include a public program to compete with private insurers.
In Washington, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said his panel would propose healthcare reform legislation this week and there was a good chance the measure would pass the full Senate with bipartisan support.
"I'll get you 85 to 90 percent (chance) -- bipartisan -- because enough Republican senators want to do the right thing and have spent a lot of time working on it," Baucus, a Democrat, told Reuters in an interview.
The powerful Senate Finance Committee is one of five congressional panels drafting legislation to overhaul the system. [ID:nN15241074]
Health-related stocks slipped more than the 2.13 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI on Monday. The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index .HMO fell 2.95 percent and the Amex Pharmaceutical index .DRG fell 2.85 percent.
The chief executive of Aetna Inc (AET.N), the No. 3 health insurer, told Reuters that Obama's remarks were a "step in the right direction." CEO Ronald Williams also said Aetna would focus on promoting public-private partnerships. Continued...
