HEADLINES:
R/€ 
Oil Boost for Obama as healthcare bill is passed
November 09, 2009 Edition 4
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives has narrowly endorsed the biggest healthcare overhaul in decades, giving President Barack Obama a crucial victory in a battle that now moves to the Senate.
By a 220-215 vote, including the support of one Republican, the House on Saturday backed a bill that would expand coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions.
But in the Senate, work on a healthcare bill - Obama's top domestic priority - has stalled for weeks as Democratic leader Harry Reid searches for an approach that can win the 60 votes he needs.
Any differences between the Senate and House bills ultimately will have to be reconciled, and a final bill passed again by both before going to Obama for his signature.
House Democrats cheered and hugged when the 218th vote was recorded, and again when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pounded the gavel and announced the results.
Most Republicans criticised the measure's $1 trillion price tag, new taxes on the wealthy and what they said was excessive government interference in the private health sector. The overhaul would spark the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion US healthcare system since the creation of the Medicare government health programme for the elderly in 1965.
The landmark vote was a huge step for Obama, who has staked much of his political capital on the healthcare battle.
The bill would require individuals to have insurance and all but the smallest employers to offer health coverage to workers. It would set up exchanges where people could choose to purchase private plans or a government-run insurance option bitterly opposed by the insurance industry, and it would offer subsidies to help low-income Americans buy insurance. - Reuters
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