The U.S. Senate approved President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul on Thursday, backing sweeping changes in the medical insurance market and new coverage for tens of millions of uninsured Americans.
Healthcare coverage and the hastle of forms
On a party-line 60-39 vote, Senate Democrats supported the most dramatic shifts in health policy in four decades. The early-morning Christmas Eve vote followed months of political wrangling that consumed the U.S. Congress and put a dent in Obama’s public approval ratings.
The vote clears the way for tough negotiations in January with the House of Representatives, which approved its own version on Nov. 7 that includes different approaches on taxes, abortion and a proposed new government-run insurance program.
Once House-Senate negotiators agree on a single bill, each chamber must approve it again before sending it to Obama to sign into law. Democrats hope to finish work before Obama’s State of the Union address in late January.
The rare Christmas Eve Senate session fulfilled a pledge by Reid to pass the bill before Christmas. Republican opponents had delayed the final vote to the last day possible under Senate rules, but agreed to an early-morning vote to allow people to head home for the holidays.
The overhaul, Obama’s top legislative priority, would lead to the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system since the 1965 creation of the government-run Medicare health program for the elderly and disabled.
The bill would extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured, covering 94 percent of all Americans, and halt industry practices such as refusing insurance to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
It also would require most Americans to have insurance, give subsidies to help some pay for coverage and create state-based exchanges where the uninsured can compare and shop for plans.
Major provisions such as the exchanges would not kick in until 2014 but many of the insurance reforms like barring companies from dropping coverage for the sick will begin in the first year.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34584180
Tags: economy, healthcare, obama
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