July 20 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, who has won three legislative victories in his bid to overhaul the U.S. health-care system, is now ramping up pressure on the congressional panel that may matter the most.

The Senate Finance Committee, which is seeking a bipartisan compromise, has failed to reach an agreement even as two House committees and a Senate panel cleared their versions of the legislation with only Democratic approval. Chairman Max Baucus said a deal will come this week at the earliest, a month after he had planned to finish a draft and get a panel vote.

Obama and Democratic leaders are meeting resistance from both Republicans and members of their own party over the more than $1 trillion cost of the legislation and how it would extend insurance coverage. It’s unlikely they can pass a measure without bringing around some skeptics, making Baucus’s effort to reach out to Republicans all the more critical.

“It needs to be on a bipartisan basis,” said Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who met with Obama at the White House on July 16. “If we work though this process over the next couple of weeks, it’s possible that we could get something done.”

Obama, who has placed the issue at the top of his agenda, said failure isn’t an option. “We will reform health care,” he told reporters at the White House on July 17. “It will happen this year.”

As part of his attempt to win over self-described moderates, Obama also summoned Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, a Republican on the finance panel, for a White House meeting. Both Snowe and Nelson said they told Obama the Senate may not be able to reach his goal of passing a measure by August, a sentiment shared by at least four other senators whose support the president needs.

Won’t Commit

“I’m not going to commit to anything until I’ve seen everything,” Nelson said in an interview.

Nelson isn’t the only Democrat getting special attention from Obama. The president’s former campaign organization, now under the Democratic National Committee as Organizing for America, announced plans for an advertising campaign aimed at pressuring senators in Arkansas, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska and Ohio.

Those states are home to Democrats including Evan Bayh of Indiana, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who are often swing votes. The ads drew the ire of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who called it “a waste of money” to attack fellow Democrats.

At Work Today

Baucus’s committee will begin talks again today. The House Energy and Commerce panel is continuing debate on its portion of a 1,018-page measure unveiled by House leaders on July 14; the panel plans to finish its work this week as long as it can contain a potential rebellion from Democrats over cost.

The health-care overhaul proposal by House Democrats would expand coverage to 97 percent of all Americans while adding $239 billion to the budget deficit over the next 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

That falls short of Obama’s pledge to ensure that any changes do not add to the budget deficit.

Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat on the commerce panel, told reporters on July 17 that Chairman Henry Waxman probably doesn’t have enough votes to pass the measure. “Why would you give more money to a broken system?” he asked.

The two other House committees with jurisdiction over health care -- Education and Labor and Ways and Means --cleared their versions on July 17 without Republican support. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee passed its plan on a party-line vote on July 15.

Both the Senate health committee and House versions contain provisions that have been sticking points in the finance panel.

Public Plan

Each creates a public insurance plan to compete with companies such as Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Indianapolis, Indiana-based WellPoint Inc. Each includes a mandate on many employers to either cover their employees or pay a penalty.

The Senate and House are split on biotechnology medicines. Under the Senate health panel’s version, biotech companies such as Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen Inc. and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen Idec Inc. wouldn’t face generic competition for 12 years after a medicine is sold.

The current House plan doesn’t have a biologics provision, though Waxman has proposed allowing generics after just five years. Groups representing large employers such as Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. and Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Co. last week urged Waxman to reject “excessive” protection for the medicines.

Surtax

To pay for its plan, the House opted for a surtax on annual incomes of more than $350,000 that graduates to 5.4 percent on couples making more than $1 million a year. In the Senate, the question of funding is up to the finance panel.

The overall effort hit a snag when Douglas Elmendorf, head of the CBO, on July 16 said House and Senate plans released so far would fail to rein in spending.

Republicans in both chambers seized on the comments to criticize current proposals, as did self-described fiscally conservative Democrats. Elmendorf’s testimony “made it easier for us to stick to our guns,” Stupak said.

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat on the finance committee, said his panel will find cost savings and called the CBO analysis “a little bit wacky.” He echoed recent comments by Obama aides that Democrats can go it alone.

“Our preference far and away is for a bipartisan bill,” Schumer said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt” that aired this weekend. “If we can’t come to a bipartisan agreement, the finance committee will report out a Democratic bill.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net; Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 20, 2009 00:01 EDT