Obama hails looming passage of health care bill at Senate

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday hailed an agreement reached by the 60 Democratic and Democratic-leaned senators on a health care reform bill that was expected to be soon passed at the whole floor.

In an unscheduled speech at the White House, Obama praised the compromise made among Senate Democrats that cleared the way for U.S. Senate passage of a sweeping health care overhaul.

"On health care, with today's developments it now appears that the American people will have the vote they deserve on genuine reform that offers security to those who have health insurance and affordable options to those who do not," he said.

"After a nearly century long struggle we are on the cusp of making health care reform a reality in the United States of America," he added.

The president applauded the bill for it being able to expand the health insurance coverage to 30 million Americans who are not insured currently.

Citing a report by the Congressional Budget Office, he said that the bill would reduce the deficit by 132 billion U.S. dollars over the first decade of the program, and more than one trillion dollars in the decade after that.

After months of negotiations and discussions, Senate Democrats finally gathered 60 votes needed to have the health care reform bill passed.

The last holdout, Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska, appeared at a press conference early Saturday, lending his support to the bill that forbids the federal funds to be used for abortions at his request.

Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced the latest version right after Nelson's announcement, so as to push for a final vote by Christmas, a deadline set by the party and Obama's government.

According to U.S. media reports, the undisclosed bill of over 700 pages would require insurers in the individual market to spend80 percent of premiums on medical care and forbid denial of coverage on children's health problems.

On abortion, the bill would let states disallow coverage in new insurance exchanges.

Republicans, on the other side, have vowed to use every possible legislative or procedural tool to delay the bill, including read-out of the whole bill that may cost several hours.

The House of Representatives has passed a health care reform bill on Nov. 7, and if the Senate approves its own version, the two floor will have to reach a unified version and send it to the president.