US House passes health care overhaul

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, just narrowly passed a landmark health care legislation.

The law aims to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it, while placing tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.

Nancy Pelosi's announcement of the result paves the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue.

Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader, said, "This was about making sure that every American, in the phrase that we use so often, has access to quality, affordable health care."

The bill is projected to expand coverage to 36 million uninsured people, resulting in 96 percent of the nation's eligible population having insurance.

The legislation would provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it.

US insurance industry practices would be strictly regulated. Coverage could no longer be denied on the basis of any pre-existing medical condition. And insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender, or medical history.

However, Most Republicans criticize its 1 trillion US dollar price tag, new taxes on the wealthy and what they say is excessive government interference in the private health sector.

Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader, said, "What we don't need to do is to create this giant bureaucracy, spend all of this tax money, imprison our children's future by passing this two-thousand-page bill."

Republican opposition was nearly unanimous, with only one Republican voting in favor of the bill.

After a win in the House of Representatives,

the healthcare reform bill still faces a difficult path in the Senate amid divisions in the Democratic Party on how to proceed.