Obama hails looming passage of health care bill at Senate
In an unscheduled speech at the White House, Obama praised the compromise made among Senate Democrats that cleared the way for U.S. Senate passage of a sweeping health care overhaul.
"On health care, with today's developments it now appears that the American people will have the vote they deserve on genuine reform that offers security to those who have health insurance and affordable options to those who do not," he said.
The president applauded the bill for it being able to expand the health insurance coverage to 30 million Americans who are not insured currently.
Citing a report by the Congressional Budget Office, he said that the bill would reduce the deficit by 132 billion U.S. dollars over the first decade of the program, and more than one trillion dollars in the decade after that.
After months of negotiations and discussions, Senate Democrats finally gathered 60 votes needed to have the health care reform bill passed.
According to U.S. media reports, the undisclosed bill of over 700 pages would require insurers in the individual market to spend 80 percent of premiums on medical care and forbid denial of coverage on children's health problems.
On abortion, the bill would let states disallow coverage in new insurance exchanges.
Republicans, on the other side, have vowed to use every possible legislative or procedural tool to delay the bill, including read-out of the whole bill that may cost several hours.
The House of Representatives has passed a health care reform bill on Nov. 7, and if the Senate approves its own version, the two floor will have to reach a unified version and send it to the president, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version.