Owens still seeking facts on health bill

Rep. William L. Owens faced an intense lobbying effort Friday after continuing to remain publicly noncommittal about how he'll vote on the $940 billion health care reform package.

"It's like studying for an exam," the freshman Democrat from Plattsburgh said. "Now I need to sleep on it tonight and come to a decision."

Mr. Owens received a cell phone call Thursday night from President Barack Obama, a prelude to the estimated 1,000 calls his five offices would field the following day.

Sean R. Magers, the congressman's spokesman, said Mr. Obama's outreach lasted less than 10 minutes.

"From what I understand, there was no pressure — they just wanted to know where he was on the vote," Mr. Magers said. "I would compare it to a regular whip call, just with the leader of the free world on the other end of the line."

With a vote expected Sunday, Democratic leaders still don't have the 216 votes they need to pass the legislation, so every undecided lawmaker was the focus of personal attention from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House.

Mr. Owens, who voted for the first House health care bill, said he met Friday with Mrs. Pelosi and made the same request to her that he did to the president the night before.

"I've said to people, I don't want to hear your policy argument," he said. "What I want is facts. I want as much information as I can to come to the best possible decision."

Mr. Owens said he's also talked to several groups who represent district interests as part of his fact-finding mission, including AARP, chief executive officers from Ogdensburg, Watertown and Plattsburgh hospitals and union leaders. He also discussed the bill with Rep. Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., an outspoken opponent.

Those who couldn't make the trip to Washington have taken their concerns to Mr. Owens' four regional offices.

Deborah A. LaClair, the American Cancer Society's district ambassador, presented a petition Friday to the congressman's Watertown staff urging Mr. Owens to vote for the legislation. The petition bore the names of 3,300 residents statewide.

"We want him to look through the cancer lens when he's looking at the bill," Mrs. LaClair said. "We want to make sure it's affordable, administratively simple, adequate and available to all people so that when they have cancer, they don't have to choose between their life savings and their lives."

With the addition of the 153 pages of revisions, the bill would expand health care to 32 million uninsured, bar the insurance industry from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions and trim federal deficits by an estimated $138 billion over the next decade.

Beginning in 2014, most Americans would be required for the first time to purchase insurance or face penalties if they refused. Large businesses would face fines if they did not offer good-quality coverage to their workers. Millions of families with incomes up to $88,000 a year would receive government help to defray their costs.

Times Washington correspondent Marc Heller and the Associated Press contributed to this report.