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WASHINGTON -- The health care overhaul working its way through Congress probably won't reach the president's desk until next year, Rep. John Murtha said.

Murtha's comments during an interview with the Tribune-Review were made as the House prepared for a rare Saturday vote on Democrats' health care plan, which picked up coveted endorsements from the AARP and American Medical Association. Thousands of opponents to the bill gathered on the Capitol lawn around noon to denounce the bill and rally around House Republicans who oppose it.

Opponents, such as Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann, billed the rally as a last-ditch effort to stop the Democrats' bill, but Murtha said a final bill remains months away.

"I don't think it'll get through this year," said Murtha, D-Johnstown. Though the House version will pass soon, the Senate is working on its own version. "You've got the holidays. You've got all these things coming up. You've got Afghanistan. It's just not likely that the Senate, slow as they are anyway, is going to come up with" a version of the bill, and reconcile it with the House's, before year's end.

Murtha said he will support the House bill, though he wants Democratic leaders to increase government reimbursement rates to hospitals. Most small hospitals in Western Pennsylvania are in danger of bankruptcy, he said.

The costs likely will be higher than Democratic leaders' estimate of $894 billion over 10 years, he said. House amendments increased its cost as much as $300 billion, according to The Associated Press.

"It's costly. Everything we do costs money," Murtha said.

But, he said, it's worth it.

"Here's what I've seen in the district: I've seen people with pre-existing conditions not taken care of. I've seen small businesses that the increase (in health care costs) has been well over 100 percent in the last few years. I've seen union leaders come to me and say, 'We don't fight about wages anymore. We fight about health care costs,' " Murtha said.

"We have to do something to get health care costs under control, and I think this bill does it."

Thousands of protesters, many affiliated with the "Tea Party" organization that mobilized opposition to health care changes this summer, said they were concerned about the plan's cost and the mandate that individuals buy health insurance. An estimated 250 people from Western Pennsylvania were among those who boarded buses to join them.

"It is unconstitutional to force people to buy health insurance," said Vanessa Womack, 41, of Atlanta.

"I don't think we can afford it," said George Parker, 56, of Raleigh, N.C. His daughter, Shannon Rabon, 34, of Charleston, N.C., said the government should knock down interstate barriers to insurance purchasing, and allow the market to drive down costs.

Melinda Donnelly, a Greensburg chiropractor, said the legislation "won't help people. It'll hurt people."

"From a physician's point of view, I don't need the government to give me advice on treating patients," Donnelly said.

House Republicans recently proposed a health care plan that omits the individual mandate and public insurance option. It would leave more people uninsured -- 52 million, compared to 18 million not insured under the House Democrats' plan -- and would reduce the budget deficit by $68 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The office estimated the Democratic plan would cut the deficit by $104 billion.

Murtha said the Republican effort is too little, too late. He noted the health care debate raged for months before the GOP put forth this plan, its first.

"It's become very partisan up here," Murtha said. "This is not something that should be done (in a partisan way), but having said that, to me it's so important to do something to resolve the problem."

As Republicans were praising the protesters who showed up outside, Democratic leaders lauded the AARP and American Medical Association for endorsing the bill.

"We are closer to passing this reform than ever before. And now that the doctors and medical professionals of America are standing with us, now that the organizations charged with looking out for the interests of seniors are standing with us, we are even closer," President Obama said.

But not too close, Murtha said.

"The Senate's not going to act on this for a while. It's going to take a while. And that's the way it should be," Murtha said. "I'm not anxious to rush this thing through."