US Senate passes Obama's landmark healthcare bill

Senate votes 60-39 for sweeping reforms, which will see medical insurance extended to 30 million Americans.

The US Senate has passed a sweeping healthcare reform bill, bringing Barack Obama a step closer to enacting one of his signature campaign promises and to meeting a goal sought by US presidents for decades.

The $871bn bill will be merged with similar legislation passed by the House of Representatives, with a final version expected to reach the president's desk by mid-February.

Negotiators will have to iron out differences between the two bills on coverage for abortion. Among other distinctions, the Senate-passed bill does not establish a government-run health insurance programme, a provision sought by Obama and congressional liberals.

The Senate bill passed on a 60-39 party line vote.
The overhaul is expected to extend health insurance to 30 million Americans who currently lack it. For the first time, Americans will be required to obtain health insurance, and insurers will be forbidden from denying coverage based on patients' pre-existing conditions.

Those who cannot get insurance through their employers will have access to a government-regulated health insurance exchange and may receive subsidies. A government-run insurance programme for the poor will be vastly expanded.

The bill was denounced by Republican leaders who vowed to maintain their opposition, despite using every parliamentary tool permitted to slow the legislation's progress. They say the bill is too costly and amounts to a government takeover of healthcare. The party hopes that voters infuriated by the bill will turn the Democrats out office in the November 2010 elections.