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US Senate passes health care reform

Other News Materials 24 December 2009 16:46 (UTC +04:00)
The US Senate passed legislation on Thursday designed to bring sweeping reforms to the health care system for the first time in decades, extending insurance to up to 30 million Americans.
US Senate passes health care reform

The US Senate passed legislation on Thursday designed to bring sweeping reforms to the health care system for the first time in decades, extending insurance to up to 30 million Americans, DPA reported.

The 60-39 vote is a historic achievement for Democrats and President Barack Obama, who listed heath care reform as a top priority for the first year of his administration.

The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill in November. The two chambers must now reconcile differences in the bills before Obama can sign it into law, which is expected to take place early next year.

The 871-billion-dollar, 10-year package seeks to make insurance more affordable for less fortunate Americans, in part through subsidies and the establishment of marketplaces called exchanges so resources can be pooled to buy cheaper insurance plans.

The bill would also ban insurance companies from denying coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions or charging higher premiums based on gender or medical history.

The landmark legislation is the largest expansion of the federal government into the health care sector since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, health care plans for the poor and elderly, in the 1960s.

The Democrats passed the bill with the help of the chamber's two independents, getting the 60 votes needed to end debate and move to Thursday's final vote. Republicans in the 100-seat were united in opposing it.

The Senate's vote ends months of contentious debate throughout the country, in raucous townhall meetings with lawmakers and in television ads. The passage also came as polls showed public support for the reform legislation had weakened.

But Obama and Democrats remained committed to vastly changing the health care system, and with Thursday's vote appeared to have succeeded where many of their predecessors failed.

"It's about the number of people who this bill will help, that is what this bill is all about," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said before the vote.

Republicans argued the bill amounts to a massive government intrusion into the private sector that will come at a high price for taxpayers and the federal debt.

Republicans made several attempts to block a vote, but powerless to stop it, they eventually agreed to a shorter debate so they could get home for the holidays.

"This bill slid rapidly down the slippery slope to more and more government control of health care," Senator Chuck Grassley said.

Obama, however, argued the bill would reduce the deficit by 132 billion dollars over the first decade and more than 1 trillion dollars in the following decade.

It is estimated that health care costs in the United States consume about 18 per cent of the gross domestic product, one of the highest rates in the industrialized world.

Once Congress reconvenes the first week of January, negotiators from the House and Senate will begin working on a uniform bill for Obama to sign, and there are some tricky issues to work out.

Unlike the Senate bill, the House version contains a controversial "public option," which would establish a government-run insurance programme. Reid removed the public option from the Senate bill in order to get the 60 votes needed to go forward.

The House bill also has stricter provisions to prevent the use of federal money for abortions and would raise income taxes on wealthy Americans to pay for the plan.

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