3 months ago
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said it's now up to the Senate to take the baton from the House and pass a bill aimed at overhauling the nation's health care system.
The House narrowly passed a health care bill Saturday night. The Senate has yet to schedule a debate on its version of health care legislation, and Republicans are pledging to stop the Democratic measure from passing Congress.
Obama gave a brief statement on the health care initiative in the Rose Garden on Sunday after returning from the presidential retreat at Camp David.
The president said he's confident the Senate will pass a health care bill. He assured senators they will join House members in looking back on the passage of health care reform as their finest moment in public service.
The Democratic controlled House passed historic health care legislation to provide medical coverage to millions more Americans.
Minority Republicans catalogued their criticism of the nearly 2,000-page, $1.2 trillion measure. Georgia Congressman Paul Broun said, "The American people need to understand this is about a government takeover of the whole health care system."
But with little or no doubt about the outcome, the rhetoric lacked the fire of last summer's town hall meetings.
The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it.
Large companies would have to offer coverage to their employees. Both consumers and companies would be slapped with penalties if they defy the government's mandates.
Before the debate on the House floor, House Democrats held a private meeting with President Barack Obama. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden afterward, the president said: "This is our moment to deliver."
The U.S. Senate is expected to take up it's version of the bill in the next few days and some observers expect a final compromise bill to reach the President's desk by or before his State of the Union Address early next year.
Sacramento Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D) said she's optimistic the Senate will pass it's own version. Matsui says moderate democrats may be swayed by numbers showing health care costs would come down if more uninsured are covered. "If we get health care for them it would actually lower the cost for everyone else because...hospitals and providers have a lot of uncompensated care."
Some worry the price tag will still be too high. "The government is coming in and stepping in on us and taking more control and putting more taxes on us," said John Rocha of Sacramento.
But high school student Alexandria Kinyone says her family can't afford insurance. "It would be nice to have some, because I we can't even go and see what's wrong with us when we're sick. It costs more money for my mom."
News10's Dave Marquis, dmarquis@news10.net contributed to this report.
The Associated Press and News10/KXTV
