The US House of Representatives has approved the broadest domestic health care overhaul in a half-century, clearing an important hurdle for President Barack Obama as he seeks to implement his top domestic priority. After hours of bitter debate and a late appeal from Mr Obama to "answer the call of history", Congressman voted 220-215 for a 10-year, $1.2 trillion plan to extend health coverage to some 36 million Americans who lack it now. The chamber's Democrats erupted in loud cheers and triumphant applause the moment the bill had the 218 votes needed for passage, at just after 11pm.

The president had paid a rare visit to Congress to lobby for unity among his Democratic allies and reinforced it with a public speech, but 39 still joined 176 of the chamber's Republicans in opposition to the proposal. One Republican broke ranks, nominally fulfilling, in the barest terms, Obama's vow to secure bipartisan support. "This is our moment to deliver. I urge members of congress to rise to this moment, answer the call of history and vote yes for health insurance reform for America," Mr Obama said in the White House's Rose Garden hours before the vote.

he fight to remake health care in the world's richest country immediately shifted to the US Senate, where its fate remained unclear amid a intra-party dispute among Democrats anchored on what role the government should play in providing an insurance safety net. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, struggling to pull together the 60 votes needed to ensure passage, has hinted that the chamber may not act until next year. That would put the issue front-and-center in the 2010 mid-term elections, when one third of the Senate, the entire House of Representatives, and many US governorships are up for grabs.

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Wow holy crap, it seems the United States of America are on towards the first step to a free universal health care for all it's citizens, about damn time, pretty much the rest of the worlds developing countries already have that. The health care system in America has always had its fair share of troubles, and alot of them come from the medical insurance companies not doing their job by refusing your payment for your health care because you might of had some minor health problem in the past. Yes the truth is if a medical insurance company doesn't hand out as much money as they should, they get a big gain in profits and they become successfull as an company.

However of course that is wrong, and these medical insurance companies are thinking of their own wallets before the peoples health. I think it is like over 30 million US citizens do not have medical insurance at all, and you have to shell out alot of money to get it, which would drop you in so much debt, if you weren't in so much debt already. However Obama has finnally passed the bill, and it might take several years to implement but its towards the first step. However since the US goverment needs to spend trillions of dollars for this bill over the next 10 years, the US citizens better prepare for a hefty tax increase.

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