US health bill gets Senate boost

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US health bill gets Senate boost

The US Senate Finance Committee has completed its work on a health bill, bringing healthcare reform in America a step closer.

The committee is expected to vote on its bill on Monday.

The bill will not include a government-run insurance option for people without employer-provided coverage, unlike other panels' bills.

But it will mandate all Americans to get health insurance, and offer subsidies for the less well-off.

For decades, health reformers have tried to set up a universal healthcare system in America.

But if the finance committee votes to approve it on Monday, it will be the first time that a healthcare reform bill has been passed by all five of the congressional committees with jurisdiction over healthcare.

President Barack Obama welcomed the completion of the finance committee's work.

"We are now closer than ever before to finally passing reform that will offer security to those who have coverage and affordable insurance to those who don't," he said in a statement.

More hurdles

The bill still needs to negotiate a number of congressional hurdles before it can become law, however.

Once the bill leaves the finance committee, it will be combined with the senate health committee's bill, and go before the full Senate for a vote.

If it passes the Senate, it will be combined with the House of Representatives' version by a conference committee and go back before both houses for final approval.

All of the different versions of the bill are broadly similar in the scope of their reforms.

They would all toughen up regulations on health insurers, mandate all Americans to get insurance, offer subsidies to the less well-off and set up health insurance exchanges for people without employer-sponsored coverage, to help them choose between different options.

Lawmakers are divided, however, over whether people with access to the exchanges should be allowed to choose a new state-run scheme - the so-called "public option".

All three House committees supported the proposal, as did the other senate committee with jurisdiction, the health committee.

But moderate Democrats and Republicans are opposed to the public option, and joined together in the finance committee to block amendments to include it in the bill.

Centrist Democrats are attempting to come up with a compromise proposal, and some form of public option could still be included in the final Senate bill.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8287739.stm