Full debate for healthcare reform after Senate vote

Supporters of healthcare

The healthcare reform in the US has sailed over another hurdle as during the weekend the Senate voted to begin a full debate on the legislation.

The White House described the vote as a "historic" step after the Republicans failed to muster enough support to kill off the proposed reforms, the British newspaper The Guardian stated.

Speaking on Saturday, Robert Gibbs, President Obama's press secretary, said, "Tonight's historic vote brings us one step closer to ending insurance company abuses, reining in spiraling health care costs, providing stability and security to those with health insurance, and extending quality health coverage to those who lack it."

Despite the legislation passing this hurdle, there is more trouble ahead for Obama as several senators crucial to winning the vote said they would not support the legislation as it is currently written.

They said this was because of the inclusion of a government-run insurance option, which falls far short of that proposed by Obama after public protests and heavy lobbying by the health insurance industry.

58 Democrats and two independents producing exactly the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate, allowing for further debate on the bill. All but one of 40 Republican senators voted against.

The bill

The bill drawn up by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is designed to ensure 31 million people, or 94 percent of Americans are covered by health insurance by - among other things - offering government-run health insurance, alongside private companies, that individual states could opt out of if they objected.

Reid said it was morally right that reform of the US healthcare system, in a country in which half of all bankruptcies are the result of medical bills and half of those are among people who have private health insurance, would now be debated by the full Senate.

"Imagine if, instead of debating whether to abolish slavery, instead of debating whether giving women and minorities a right to vote, those who disagreed were muted, discussion was killed," he added.

Support

Opinion polls have shown that the majority of Americans support the inclusion of publicly run health insurance.

Despite the support from the American public, many Republicans bitterly oppose parts of the bill as they believe it is too expensive.

The chairman of the Republican party, Michael Steele, has said he sees defeating Obama over healthcare as a way of undermining and neutralising his presidency.

But the real challenge for Obama and his allies will be to keep on board those senators who voted in favour of beginning the full debate but said that they would not support the bill as written.

Reid would need all their votes - or to bring on board one or two Republican senators - if the bill is to pass.

The Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said his party would keep up its fight to kill the legislation, adding: "The battle has just begun."

"The American people are asking us to stop this bill and we're going to do anything and everything we can to prevent this measure from becoming law," he said to the BBC.

Senator Max Baucus, the main architect of the bill, said: "History is knocking on the door. Let's open it."

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