US senators are preparing to vote on the final Senate version of a historic healthcare reform bill.
The legislation aims to cover 31 million uninsured Americans and could lead to the biggest change in US healthcare in decades.President Barack Obama said the process had been "difficult" but that the final bill was "greatly worthy of support".If approved, it would still have to be reconciled with a more expansive bill passed by the House of Representatives.Opposition Republicans say the Senate bill is expensive, authoritarian and a threat to civil liberties.Senators
are due to vote on the bill at 0700 Washington time (1200GMT) on
Thursday and correspondents say it is almost certain to be passed.Healthcare
reform has been the key domestic policy of Mr Obama's administration
but finalising the details of the proposed bills has been a lengthy and
complex process.On Wednesday, the bill passed the last of
three procedural votes in the Senate, with Democrats collecting the 60
votes needed to bring an end to Republican delaying tactics.Mr Obama said he was determined to "close the deal" soon."Right
now there are families who don't have health insurance and as a
consequence of somebody getting sick in their family have been
bankrupt," he told PBS's Newshour programme.
Democrat Senate leader Harry Reid said the debate over the bill had been "a long, hard road"."We stand a few short steps from the most significant finish line we've had in Congress for many decades," he said.Republican senators have refused to back the bill and Senator Orin Hatch described it as " horrendous" and a vote-winning tactic."It has over $500bn [£313bn] in new taxes. It gives subsidies to people who make $88,000. I mean my gosh when does it stop?" he said."It doesn't take much to figure out that they are not as interested in healthcare as they are in maintaining control of the United States Congress."CONTINUE READING...
