US House of Reps narrowly passes $1,000 billion over 10 years health reform bill

In an unusual Saturday sitting, the US Democratic-controlled House has narrowly - by a vote of 220 to 215 - passed landmark and far-reaching health care reform legislation - H.R. 3962 - designed to provide health insurance to an additional 36 million Americans at a cost of more than $1,000 billion over a decade, handing President Barack Obama a victory on his signature domestic priority. 'The House of Representatives passed a bill that would finally make real the promise of quality, affordable health care for the American people,' the President said in a statement after the vote, also urging the Senate to do likewise.

The bill was supported by 219 Democrats and one Republican - Joseph Cao from New Orleans - and opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats. The Bill passed after a last minute compromise on abortion funding and a scaling back of the public plan option. The debate now moves to the Senate, where Mr Obama is one short of the 60 votes needed, as two Senators oppose the public plan. Moreover, the abortion compromise has inflamed sensitivies in both the House and Senate.

Passage of the legislation is expected to be more difficult through the Senate, where among of the toughest issues are: whether the public option should include an "opt out" clause for states; whether to require employers to provide coverage to their workers or take the less punitive approach preferred by Senate moderates; and whether to tax the rich or tax high-cost health-care policies, as the Senate proposed -- a provision economists call the most important provisions in either bill for reining in costs, reports the Washington Post. Eventually, the House and Senate would have to reconcile their differences and agree on one bill to be passed again and sent to the President for his signature.