UPDATED ON:
Sunday, November 08, 2009
19:57 Mecca time, 16:57 GMT  
News Americas
US House approves healthcare bill

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The lower house of the US congress has backed a healthcare bill that may lead to millions of
Americans gaining health insurance.

After hours of debate on Sunday, House members voted 220-215 for a $1.1 trillion, 10-year plan
to extend health coverage to 36 million Americans.

Barack Obama, the US president, had paid a rare visit to the House of Representatives to lobby
for unity among his Democratic allies and reinforced it with a public speech.
Nevertheless, 39 Democrats still joined 176 of the chamber's Republicans in opposition to the
proposal. One Republican broke ranks, nominally fulfilling Obama's vow to secure bipartisan
support.

The bill stipulates that all Americans have to obtain health insurance and creates a government-
backed insurance plan, popularly known as a "public option".

It would bar insurers from excluding people for so called pre-existing conditions and for
charging more based on medical history.

Most employers would have to offer coverage to their workers - though some small businesses
would be exempt and the government would offer subsidies.

Republican opposition

Republicans have been united in their opposition to the bill and have said that, if it was passed, it
would open the door for an expensive government takeover of healthcare.

 
 
 
 
 
 
The fight to remake healthcare in the world's richest country now shifts to the US senate, where
its fate remains unclear.

Harry Reid, the Democratic senate majority leader, struggled to pull together the 60 votes needed
to ensure passage. He has hinted that the House may not act until next year.
 
That would make the proposed reform the main issue at the 2010 mid-term elections - when one-
third of the senate, the entire House of  Representatives and many US governorships are up for
grabs.
  
If, as expected, the two chambers pass rival versions of healthcare legislation, they will need to
thrash out a compromise version and approve it in order to send it to Obama to sign into law.
  
The US is the only industrialised democracy that does not ensure that all of its citizens have
health care coverage.
  
However, Washington spends vastly more on healthcare - both per person and as a share of
national income as measured by Gross Domestic Product - than other industrialised democracies.