US President Barack Obama praised the Senate for passing a sweeping overhaul to the nation's healthcare system and called on Congress to finish the job.
"With passage of reform bills in both the House and the Senate, we are now finally poised to deliver on the promise of real, meaningful health insurance reform that will bring additional security and stability to the American people."
Senate Democrats mastered the 60 party-line votes needed to pass the bill. Lawmakers are now expected to face tough negotiations in January to iron out differences with the House of Representatives which approved its own version on November 7.
"As I've said before, these are not small reforms; these are big reforms. If passed, this will be the most important piece of social legislation since the Social Security Act passed in the 1930s, and the most important reform of our healthcare system since Medicare passed in the 1960s."
The bill aims to extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. It would also block insurance companies from refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. Democrats hope to send the bill to Obama before his State of the Union message in late January.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.
