Obama seeks to boost support for health-care reform

The problems posed by nearly 50 million uninsured Americans are only worsening as Americans grow older and live longer, as their health-care costs ($2 trillion annually) soar compared to their wages, and as the uninsured among them swell with no end in sight.

One by-product of these trends: Medicare is running out of money faster than expected.

At current levels of revenue and spending, the federal government has projected that health insurance system that serves more than 44 million elderly Americans will go bust by 2017.

Such are the factors that have united to drive President Obama's campaign to overhaul the nation's health-care industry.

So far, it's been met with fierce resistance from those who worry about its $1 trillion or more price tag and disruptions to the medical marketplace, raising concerns about the rationing of health care for the disabled and the elderly.

Alarmed by flagging poll numbers for both his presidency and his health care overhaul plan, Obama plans to address a joint session of Congress with a nationally televised speech Wednesday night. In it, he is expected to roll out a more simplified blueprint for reform and make his strongest pitch yet for why Congress needs to pass it now.

Despite their worries, most Americans support moving forward on health-care reform. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that:

* 53 percent of Americans believe that tackling health reform is more important than ever, while 42 percent believe that the nation can't afford health-care reform now.

* 63 percent reported they are "hopeful" about reform. But 41 percent said they are afraid of it.

* Overall, 46 percent of respondents reported feeling "confused" by the complexity of the issues.

* By a more than 2-to-1 margin (51 percent vs. 23 percent), Americans believe the country will be better off rather than worse off if Congress and Obama enact health-care reform.

A poll sponsored by CBS News in July also found that:

* 63 percent of Americans find the health-care reforms discussed in Congress to be confusing and say that Obama has not clearly explained his plans.

* 31 percent said they have a clear understanding of the proposed changes.