Obama scents victory as healthcare vote nears

Published on Thursday 18 March 2010 20:42

DEMOCRATIC leaders in the United States were last night due to unveil what is expected to be their final healthcare bill, setting the stage for a Sunday vote on a plan that would affect most Americans and has become the defining issue in Barack Obama's presidency.

Leaving nothing to chance, the White House announced that Mr Obama had put off his planned trip to Indonesia and Australia for a second time, delaying it until June. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "He wants to be here for the history."

The plan would cost $940 billion over ten years and extend coverage to 32 million Americans who are uninsured, while reducing the federal deficit by $138 billion over ten years, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said – by cutting government spending on Medicare and Medicaid, and cutting waste, fraud and abuse. Democratic leaders said the deficit would be cut $1.2 trillion in the second decade. The plan would restructure one-sixth of the US economy in the biggest expansion of the social safety net since Medicare, a government-run health plan for the elderly, was created in 1965.

However, passage is still not assured. With Republicans unanimous in opposition, Mr Obama needs to win over moderate House Democrats, some of whom are wary about the plan's costs and abortion provisions.

Still, Mr Obama appears on the verge of a victory, just two months after it appeared all but impossible. Democrats in January lost a Senate seat in a special election, denying them the 60-vote supermajority needed to overcome Republican blocking tactics. But Democrats are using a complicated legislative strategy, over strenuous Republican objections, to get the bill through both the House and Senate.

Mr Obama said the reform would "bring accountability to the insurance industry and bring greater economic security to all Americans".