WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is trying to persuade a weary public and wavering Democrats to get behind his frantic, late-stage push on health care, while Republicans dig in and demand starting from scratch after a year's worth of work.

"Now, despite all the progress and improvements we've made, Republicans in Congress insist that the only acceptable course on health care is to start over. But you know what? The insurance companies aren't starting over," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.

"I just met with some of them on Thursday, and they couldn't give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums — by as much as 60 percent in states like Illinois. If we do not act, they will continue to do this."

Republicans were not swayed.

"It's not too late: We can, and we must, stop this government takeover of health care," said Rep. Parker Griffith, a retired physician and a first-term congressman from Alabama who switched parties in December and delivered the GOP message.

The competing addresses underscored the urgency behind Obama's last-ditch push for immediate health care reform. Without a victory — and quickly — Democrats move into a fast-approaching election season without a major, tangible accomplishment that affects voters' pocketbooks. And with a chasm remaining between the two parties, Democrats considered passing the overhaul with votes just from their party.

That process would let the 59 Senate Democrats declare victory with a simple majority instead of a 60-vote count. It also would allow Obama's team to get back to talking about the economy, which has shed more than 8 million jobs since the recession began.

Obama is pleading with Democrats to overcome divisions to seize a historic moment to remake the health care system during this election year. The White House wants to pass a health care overhaul and then campaign on it. Voters will pick candidates to serve 36 Senate seats; the entire House is up for re-election.

White House officials hope the immediate changes in the health overhaul would be enough to satisfy voters' expectations — and Democratic lawmakers who were hardly unified in support of the plan.

If Democrats pass the plan, voters would find greater consumer protections and a ban on discriminating against customers with previous ailments. Small businesses would receive a tax credit this year, insurance companies would no longer be able to drop patients' coverage if they become sick, and plans would be required to offer free preventive care to customers.

Griffith said leaders of the Democratic Party he left last year were missing the point.

"For them, health care reform has become less about the best reforms and more about what best fits their 'Washington knows best' mentality — less about helping patients and more about scoring political points," he said. "This is no idle observation. I've witnessed it firsthand."

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On the Net:

Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/republicanconference

REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Still furious over the crippling aftermath of the global financial crisis, Iceland's voters on Saturday resoundingly rejected a $5.3 billion plan to pay off Britain and the Netherlands for debts spawned by the collapse of an Icelandic Internet bank, according to initial results.

Results returned from around 83,500 ballots — or more than 40 percent of the total ballots expected — counted so far showed that 93 percent of voters said "no" in the referendum, compared to just 1.5 percent who said "yes." The rest were invalid ballots.

Icelanders were deciding whether to back a plan outlining the payment of $3.5 billion to Britain and $1.8 billion to the Netherlands as compensation for funds that those governments paid to around 340,000 of their citizens who had accounts with the collapsed bank Icesave, an Icelandic Internet bank that offered high interest rates before it failed along with its parent, Landsbanki.

Many voters object to the tough terms of the deal imposed by the debtor countries, not the idea of payment itself.

"This result is no surprise," Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said. "Now we need to get on with the task in front of us, namely to finish the negotiations with the Dutch and the British."

The initial referendum results are indicative of how angry many Icelanders are as the tiny island nation struggles to recover from a deep recession. The global financial crisis wreaked political and economic havoc on Iceland, as its banks collapsed within the space of a week in October 2008 during the credit crunch and its currency, the krona, plummeted. The Icelandic government was the first to fall as a result of the meltdown.

Final results of the referendum are not available until Sunday, though they are expected to be largely in line with the results so far.

The vote could jeopardize Iceland's credit ratings, making it harder to access much-needed funding to fuel an economic recovery. Unemployment has surged since the crisis began, to about 9 percent in January, and inflation is running at about 7 percent annually, while the island's economy continues to shrink.

Icelandic authorities have recently been in talks with Britain and the Netherlands to come up with a better deal to try to avert Saturday's referendum, which was forced by the refusal of Iceland's president to agree to the so-called Icesave bill.

Last-minute talks between the three countries broke down this week, despite the debtor countries saying they offered better terms for a new deal — including a significant cut on the 5.5 percent interest rate in the original deal hammered out at the end of last year.

The British say their "best and final offer has been turned down," but Iceland's Foreign Ministry said late Saturday it remained confident a solution acceptable to all parties can be achieved.

The debt owed to Britain and the Netherlands is a small sum compared to the massive amounts spent to rescue other victims of the global meltdown — $182.5 billion was paid out to keep U.S. insurance giant American International Group Inc. alive — but many taxpayers in the country of just about 320,000 say they can't afford to pay it.

The deal would require each person to pay around $135 a month for eight years — the equivalent of a quarter of an average four-member family's salary.

Locals see the deal as an unfair result of their own government's failure to curtail the excessive spending of a handful of bank executives that led the country into its current malaise.

"I said no," said Palmar Olason, 71, at a polling station. "We should get a better deal," he said.

Britain and the Netherlands have been pushing hard for repayment and there have been fears that they will take a hard-line stance on Iceland's application to join the EU and refuse to approve the start of accession talks until an Icesave deal is signed into law.

About 1,000 Icelanders gathered to protest in downtown Reykjavik Saturday, demanding a better say in the issue. Many ordinary Icelanders resent forking out the money to compensate for losses incurred by potentially wealthier foreign investors who chased the high interest rates offered by Icesave.

There's also residual anger that Britain invoked anti-terrorist legislation to freeze the assets of Icelandic banks at the height of the crisis, prompting the worst diplomatic spat between the two countries since the Cod Wars of the 1970s over fishing rights in the North Atlantic.

President Olafur R. Grimsson tapped into the public anger and used a rarely invoked power to refuse to sign the so-called Icesave bill after it was passed by parliament in December.

Since then, opinion polls indicated that a strong majority intended to reject the plan. The Social Democrat-Left Green coalition government and the center-right opposition say the country could get better terms in negotiations with Britain and the Netherlands.

"I voted no," said Rognvaldur Hoskuldsson, a 36-year-old machine technologist, after casting his vote Saturday morning. "We have to send a message that these countries are not going to profit from this situation."

Although the International Monetary Fund has never explicitly linked delivery of a $4.6 billion loan to the reaching of an Icesave deal, it is committed to Iceland repaying its international debt — the months taken to reach the original Icesave deal were responsible for holding up the first tranche of IMF funds last year.

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Sylvia Hui reported from London.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Still smarting from the crippling aftermath of the global financial crisis, grudging Icelanders were expected Saturday to vote down a $5.3 billion plan to pay off Britain and the Netherlands for debts spawned by the collapse of an Icelandic Internet bank.

The resounding "no" vote expected at the referendum is indicative of how angry many Icelanders are as the tiny island nation struggles to recover from a deep recession. The global financial crisis wreaked political and economic havoc on Iceland, as its banks collapsed within the space of a week in October 2008 and its currency, the krona, plummeted. The Icelandic government was the first to fall as a result of the meltdown.

The debt owed to Britain and the Netherlands is a small sum compared to the amounts spent to rescue other victims of the global meltdown — $182.5 billion was paid out to keep U.S. insurance giant American International Group Inc. alive — but many taxpayers in the country of just 320,000 say they can't afford to pay it.

The deal would require each person to pay around $135 a month for eight years — the equivalent of a quarter of an average four-member family's salary.

Voters were considering whether to back a payment of $3.5 billion to Britain and $1.8 billion to the Netherlands as compensation for funds that those governments paid to around 340,000 of their citizens who had accounts with the collapsed bank Icesave, an Icelandic Internet bank that offered high interest rates before it failed along with its parent, Landsbanki.

Many voters object to the terms of the deal, not the idea of payment itself.

"I said no," said Palmar Olason, 71, at a polling station. "We should get a better deal," he said.

If most voters agreed with him, Iceland's credit ratings could be jeopardized, making it harder to access much-needed funding to fuel an economic recovery. Unemployment has surged since the crisis began, to about 9 percent in January, and inflation is running at about 7 percent annually, while the island's economy continues to shrink.

Britain and the Netherlands have been pushing hard for repayment and there have been fears that they will take a hard-line stance on Iceland's application to join the EU and refuse to approve the start of accession talks until an Icesave deal is signed into law.

About 1,000 Icelanders gathered to protest in downtown Reykjavik Saturday, demanding a better say in the issue.

Many ordinary Icelanders resent forking out the money to compensate for losses incurred by potentially wealthier foreign investors who chased the high interest rates offered by Icesave.

There's also residual anger that Britain invoked anti-terrorist legislation to freeze the assets of Icelandic banks at the height of the crisis, prompting the worst diplomatic spat between the two countries since the Cod Wars of the 1970s over fishing rights in the North Atlantic.

President Olafur R. Grimsson tapped into the public anger and used a rarely invoked power to refuse to sign the so-called Icesave bill after it was passed by parliament in December.

Since then, opinion polls have indicated that a strong majority intend to reject the plan. The Social Democrat-Left Green coalition government and the center-right opposition say the country could get better terms in negotiations with Britain and the Netherlands.

Last-minute talks between Iceland, Britain and the Netherlands broke down this week, despite the debtor countries saying they offered better terms — including a significant cut on the 5.5 percent interest rate in the original deal hammered out at the end of last year.

The British say their "best and final offer has been turned down."

But Iceland continues to hold out for more, aware that any new deal must win substantial political and public support.

"I voted no," said Rognvaldur Hoskuldsson, a 36-year-old machine technologist, after casting his vote Saturday morning. "We have to send a message that these countries are not going to profit from this situation."

Although the International Monetary Fund has never explicitly linked delivery of a $4.6 billion loan to the reaching of an Icesave deal, it is committed to Iceland repaying its international debt — the months taken to reach the original Icesave deal were responsible for holding up the first tranche of IMF funds last year.

First results of the referendum are expected around 2200GMT Saturday.

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Sylvia Hui reported from London.