United State President Barack Obama on Saturday called on Democrats and Republicans to overcome their differences on health care reform and act on his proposal without delay.

“It is time for us to come together,” Obama said in his weekly radio address. “It is time for us to act. It is time for those of us in Washington to live up to our responsibilities to the American people and to future generations.”

On Thursday, Obama held a high-stakes health care summit with top Republicans, but failed to break an impasse over his historic reform drive, prompting him to warn he would press on with or without Republican help.

Civility largely prevailed at the grueling day-long meeting, after Obama warned against “political theater”, but there was no breakthrough on sharp ideological disputes threatening to suffocate his ambitious presidency.

Obama’s plan to provide health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans stalled in Congress early this year, after Democrats lost a Senate seat to Republicans as a result of a special election in Massachusetts to replace the late senator Edward Kennedy.

The setback resulted to the loss by Democrats of a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority necessary these days to pass most legislation in the upper chamber.

All Senate Republicans have been steadfast in their opposition to the health reform plan. Facts: Main points of Obama health care plan

Obama said in the address that at the summit, he had heard some Republican ideas that were “very worthy of consideration.”

But he admitted that the two sides had disagreed over whether insurance companies should be held accountable for denying care or raising premiums, and over giving tax credits to small businesses and individuals.

“Some of these disagreements we may be able to resolve,” argued the president. “Some we may not. And no final bill will include everything that everyone wants. That’s what compromise is.”

But he insisted Washington politicians could not lose this opportunity to move forward.

“The tens of millions of men and women who cannot afford their health insurance cannot wait another generation for us to act,” Obama said.

Senate Vote on Health Care Reform, Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, the Democrats together Saturday night to advance historical health legislation beyond a key hurdle in the Senate because of opposition from Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat to President, Barack Obama. There was a vote to spare.

The 60-39 vote cleared the way for the bruising, wide debate beginning after Thanksgiving in the legislation, which is designed to extend coverage to approximately 31 million who lack it, ending the practices of the Company insurance to deny or dilute the benefits and reduce the growth of spending on health care nationwide.

The spectator galleries were full for the unusual Saturday night showdown, and applause broke out briefly when the vote was announced. In a measure of the significance of the moment, senators sat quietly in their seats, standing only when they were called upon to vote.

In the final minutes of a daylong session, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Republicans of trying to stifle a historic debate the nation needed.

“Imagine if, instead of debating whether to abolish slavery, instead of debating whether giving women and minorities the right to vote, those who disagreed had muted discussion and killed any vote,” he said.

The Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said the vote was anything but procedural – casting it as a referendum on the bill itself, which he said would raise taxes, cut Medicare and create a “massive and unsustainable debt.”

For all the drama, the result of the Saturday night showdown had been sealed a few hours earlier, when two final Democratic holdouts, Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, announced they would join in clearing the way for a full debate.

“It is clear to me that doing nothing is not an option,” said Landrieu, who won $100 million in the legislation to help her state pay the costs of health care for the poor.