Obama’s health reform plan clears hurdle

President Barack Obama’s plan to overhaul the US health care system overcame a major political hurdle today after a key Senate panel cleared the reform bill.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 14 to nine in favour of legislation that would see health insurance extended to most of the 47 million Americans not covered at present.

But their version falls short of having a so-called public option under which consumers would be offered a state-run insurance plan.

That move had been bitterly opposed by the insurance industry which has pumped billions of dollars into lobbying against its introduction.

And it is increasingly thought the public option will be missing from the final version of the bill in a bid to get reform through.

Passing the Senate Finance Committee is seen as a major advance for the hotly debated plan.

In an positive sign for the president, the bill was supported by one Republican.

The decision by Senator Olympia Snowe to vote with Democrats on the issue may encourage other moderates from her own party to do likewise.

It may also take some of the political heat out of an issue that had seemingly become rigidly partisan.

The Senate Finance Committee version of the bill will cost 829 billion dollars (€558bn), falling in line with requirements by the White House that it dips under 900 billion (€606bn).

Under its proposals the price of insurance will be forced down and insurers will be barred from blocking customers because of pre-existing conditions. In return, the uninsured will be compelled to buy insurance or pay a hefty penalty.

Having passed the committee, the bill will now be debated among all 100 members of the Senate.

Before that happens, it will have to be reconciled with a more liberal version approved in the health committee stage.

The topic of health care reform has become increasingly bitter in recent months. Those opposed to reform claim any form of socialised care will reduce choice and be too costly to taxpayers.

Free market pressure groups have tried to draw comparisons with the NHS, demonising the UK system in the process.

But the dropping of the public option at committee stage will come as a huge disappointment to those who want to see universal health care introduced into the US.