President Obama said Wednesday he “absolutely” believes health care reform will be passed by the end of the year, arguing the country will be “worse off” without a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s system. 

“We’re going to get it done,”  Obama said in an interview aired Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

But the president did not say whether he would sign a bill that taxes healthcare benefits — a proposal backed by some members of Congress.

“I’m going to wait and see what ideas they come up with. I suspect that when they start seeing what the options are, they might end up concluding that the options we’re presenting are the best ones,” he said, adding that he would prefer to reduce tax deductions for the wealthiest to pay for the overhaul.

Obama also said he’s changed his mind on the issue of whether individuals can purchase health care — an idea he was resistant to during his presidential campaign.

“This is an area where people have made compelling arguments to me, that if we want to have system that drives down cost for everyone, we have to have healthy people not opt out of the system,” Obama told ABC. 

Even as Obama and the insurance industry move toward open confrontation over the role of government in health care, his administration is telling lawmakers to keep pushing for a bipartisan deal.

Obama on Tuesday dismissed as “not logical” the insurance lobby’s assertion that a new government health plan he backs would dismantle the employer-sponsored coverage most Americans now have. Despite harsh words from the president, senators attending an evening meeting in the Capitol with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said the administration was not ready to abandon the search for compromise.

Obama said he thinks a public health plan would be “an important tool to discipline insurance companies.”

That’s not what the industry thinks.

(Source: Fox News)