U.S. House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. House of  Representatives gave final approval to a sweeping healthcare  overhaul yesterday, expanding insurance coverage to nearly all  Americans and handing President Barack Obama a landmark  victory.
On a late-night 219-212 vote, House Democrats approved the  most dramatic health policy changes in four decades. The vote  sends the bill, already passed by the Senate, to Obama to sign  into law.
The overhaul will extend health coverage to 32 million  Americans, expand the government health plan for the poor,  impose new taxes on the wealthy and bar insurance practices  such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical  conditions.
The vote capped a year-long political battle with  Republicans that consumed the U.S. Congress and dented Obama’s  approval ratings, and fulfilled a goal that had eluded many  presidents for a century — most recently Democrat Bill Clinton  in 1994.
“Tonight, at a time when the pundits said it was no longer  possible, we rose above the weight of our politics,” Obama said  during a late-night appearance at the White House.
“This legislation will not fix everything that ails our  healthcare system, but it moves us decisively in the right  direction. This is what change looks like,” he said.
House Democrats hugged and cheered in celebration as their  vote count hit the magic number of 216, and chanted: “Yes we  can.” Every Republican opposed the bill, and 34 Democrats  joined them in voting against it.
Republican and industry critics said the $940 billion bill  was a heavy-handed intrusion in the healthcare sector that will  drive up costs, increase the budget deficit and reduce  patients’ choices.
Both parties geared up for another battle over the  healthcare bill in the campaign leading up to November’s  congressional elections, and opponents across the country  promised to challenge the legislation on the state level.
BIG CHANGES
The healthcare revamp, Obama’s top domestic priority, would  usher in 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.
It would require most Americans to have health coverage,  give subsidies to help lower-income workers pay for coverage  and create state-based exchanges where the uninsured can  compare and shop for plans.
Major provisions such as the exchanges and subsidies 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.
House Democrats also approved a package of changes to the  Senate bill late yesterday. The Senate will take up that  package this week under budget reconciliation rules requiring a  simple majority to pass.
The changes include elimination of a controversial Senate  deal exempting Nebraska from paying for Medicaid expansion  costs, the closure of a “doughnut hole” gap in prescription  drug coverage and modifications to a tax on high-cost  “Cadillac” insurance plans.
Republicans said they would challenge those changes in the  Senate through parliamentary points of order and believed they  could block its passage.
“Senate Republicans will now do everything in our power to  replace the massive tax hikes, Medicare cuts and mandates with  the reforms our constituents have been calling for throughout  this debate,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said.
The vote on the overhaul followed days of heavy lobbying of  undecided House Democrats by Obama and House leaders. The  narrow victory was clinched earlier yesterday by a deal  designed to appease a handful of Democratic opponents of  abortion rights.
Under the deal, Obama will issue an executive order  affirming government restrictions on the use of federal funds  for abortion would not be changed by the healthcare bill.
That pledge won the support of Representative Bart Stupak  and a handful of other House Democratic abortion rights  opponents, who had threatened to vote against the Senate-passed  bill because they said its abortion restrictions were not  strong enough.
The health insurance industry has vigorously opposed the  overhaul, but insurance stocks rallied late last week as  investors began to realize their worst fears had not  materialized.
Pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and others will benefit  from more insured patients, and the bill does not allow the  government to cap prices and premiums, which would have hurt  drugmakers and insurers.
Opinion polls show the public also has a mixed view. While  pluralities oppose the legislation and the process has turned  off many Americans, some of the bill’s individual components  draw heavy support.
Hundreds of conservative “Tea Party” activists rallied next  to the Capitol, waving yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and  chanting “Kill the bill.” Many entered the Capitol, wandering  the hallways to buttonhole lawmakers and at one point  disrupting House proceedings.
The bill’s final approval represented a stunning turnaround  from January, when it was considered dead after Democrats lost  their crucial 60th Senate vote in a special Massachusetts  Senate election.
But Obama and Democrats rallied last month for a final  push, and will use the Senate’s budget reconciliation rules to  bypass the need for 60 votes on the changes they sought to the  overhaul.