Obama hails breakthrough on US healthcare

President Barack Obama lauded the US Senate’s passage of sweeping healthcare legislation and said providing coverage to most Americans would represent the country’s most important social legislation since the 1930s.

The Democratic-controlled White House and Congress are now closer to the goal of near-universal healthcare than any of their predecessors.

Extending healthcare coverage to 30 million out of nearly 50 million uninsured Americans brings the president close to achieving his top domestic priority.

Hard work still remains – the Senate bill must be harmonised with the version approved by the House of Representatives.

Mr Obama quickly hailed yesterday’s Senate passage of the bill and said his government is now “finally poised to deliver on the promise” of overhauling a troubled system.

He noted that presidents since Theodore Roosevelt a century ago have been trying unsuccessfully to overhaul medical care.

“If passed, this will be the most important piece of social legislation since the Social Security Act passed in the 1930s and the most important reform of our healthcare system since Medicare passed in the 1960s,” he said, referring to federal pension and healthcare programmes for the elderly.

Republicans were unanimous in their opposition. The legislation will probably shape the 2010 congressional elections and possibly Mr Obama’s 2012 re-election bid.

The 60-39 vote along party lines on a cold winter morning capped months of arduous negotiations and 24 days of floor debate.

The Senate bill must now be merged with legislation passed by the House before Mr Obama can sign a final bill in the New Year.

There are significant differences between the two measures but Democrats say they have come too far now to fail.

The bill’s passage will offer Mr Obama a bright end to an often rocky year that began with huge hopes following his election victory.

His public approval level now hovers around 50% as he copes with high unemployment, increasing violence in Afghanistan and the divisive healthcare debate.

Mr Obama delayed his Christmas holiday in Hawaii until the Senate vote, a sign of its importance to his presidency.

He repeated his theme that the bill will help end long-criticised insurance industry practices, such as denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

The Senate bill “includes the toughest measures ever taken to hold the insurance industry accountable”, Mr Obama said.

House minority Republican leader John Boehner attacked the Senate bill.

He complained that the “Democrats’ government takeover of healthcare” would increase health coverage costs for families and small businesses, raise taxes during a recession and cut into federal healthcare benefits for the elderly.

For the first time, the US government would require nearly every American to carry insurance, and subsidies would be provided to help low-income people to do so.

Employers would be induced to cover their employees through a combination of tax credits and penalties.

The legislation costs nearly a trillion dollars over 10 years and is paid for by a combination of taxes, fees and cuts to Medicare.

Some liberal Democrats have not been enthusiastic about the Senate bill because there are no plans for a government-run national healthcare system that would cover all Americans.

Even a more modest proposal to have a government-run health plan compete with private insurers had to be stripped from the Senate bill in the face of opposition from moderate Democrats.

Negotiations between the House and Senate to reconcile differences between the two bills are expected to begin as soon as next week.