Sweeping Health Care Plan Passes House

WASHINGTON – Delivery President Obama a hard fought victory, the House passed a strict radical overhaul of the health care system in the nation on Saturday night, advancing legislation that Democrats said could stand as the defining achievement of its social policy .
After a confrontation with Republicans all day on what has been a Democratic target for decades, lawmakers voted 220 to 215 to approve a plan that would cost 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 10 years. Democrats said the legislation could provide overdue relief to Americans struggling to buy or maintain health insurance.

“This is our time to revolutionize health care in this country,” said Representative George Miller, California Democrat and one of the main architects of the bill.

Democrats were forced to make major concessions on insurance coverage for abortions to attract the final votes to secure free passage, a wrenching compromise many defenders of abortion rights in their ranks.

Many of them hope to make changes to the amendment during negotiations with the Senate, which will now become the main battleground in the fight for health care and Democrats are ready its own bill so it is likely that is extensive floor debate.

The Democrats said the House measure – paid through new taxes, along with cuts in Medicare – would extend coverage to 36 million people uninsured for the creation of a government program of health insurance. That would end practices such as the insurance company will not cover preexisting conditions or dropping people when they get sick.

Republicans condemned the vote and said he would oppose the measure that advances its legislative journey. “This acquisition of government has a long way to go before reaching the president’s desk, and I will keep fighting tooth and nail every step,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas. “Health care is too important to do wrong.”

In the full House, Democrats exchanged high five and cheered – and Republicans sat in silence – when the screen showed the count of 218th and decisive vote, after the leadership spent countless hours in the past days writhing commitments of members of the House.

“We did what we promised the American people that I would,” said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat and majority leader, also warned: “Much work remains.

The vote was successful on a day when Mr. Obama traveled to Capitol Hill to make a personal appeal to lawmakers to “answer the call of history” and support the bill.

Only one Republican, Representative Cao Ánh Louisiana, voted for the bill and 39 Democrats opposed. The House also defeated the Republicans’ more modest plan, whose authors said it was a more common sense and fiscally responsible approach.

Democrats who opposed the measure represent mainly conservative swing districts, indicating that they could be vulnerable in next year’s parliamentary elections seen voting for the measure as politically risky.

“Today can be a difficult vote, but it was in 1935 when we passed the Social Security,” Representative John Dingell, Michigan Democrat and dean of the House, said the debate came to a close Saturday night.

Some Democrats said they voted for the law so they could try to improve it. “This law will improve in the Senate,” said Representative Jim Cooper, a Democrat from Tennessee who has been outspoken in his criticism of some of the provisions of the law, but decided to support it. “If we kill here, not have the opportunity to improve.”

After the vote, Obama issued a statement praising the House and Senate call to follow their example. “I am absolutely sure it will happen,” he said, “and I look forward to signing a comprehensive reform of health insurance law later this year.”

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said he would bring a bill to the floor as soon as possible.

The vote came on the third anniversary of the acquisition in 2006 Democratic House, and the step moves the bill well beyond the health care revision attempted by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

The lawmakers credited Obama with a final conversion of a few pockets during his appearance at a closed door meeting with Democrats just hours before the vote. Democratic officials said Obama’s talk on Saturday with Representative Michael H. Michaud, Maine Democrat, was crucial to winning a final vote.

Many Democrats also credited Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take a victory that proved more difficult than many had predicted. “She really threaded the needle on this,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts.

A critical point was the decision Friday night Pelosi to allow anti-abortion Democrats to try to tighten the restrictions on coverage for the procedure under any insurance plan that receives federal funds. This grant provided a threat by some Democrats to abandon the bill, but Democrats who support abortion rights with a dilemma between the back of a provision or sabotage they bitterly opposed the bill. Abortion controls were added to the measure in a vote of 240 to 194.

Obama appeared rare weekend in Congress as part of an overall effort to bring more Democrats to support health legislation since the creation of Medicare for the elderly for four decades.

During the private meeting with Democrats in the Cannon caucus room, the president acknowledged the political difficulty of supporting legislation important in view of the unanimous opposition and harsh criticism from conservatives.

However, those present said, he urged them, saying: “When I sign this in the Rose Garden, each and every one of you will be able to look back and say, ‘This was my best moment in politics.