Senate committee passes health-care overhaul

WASHINGTON -- A Senate health committee advanced a $600 billion overhaul of the nation's health care system Wednesday, pushing President Obama's top domestic priority past its farthest legislative milestone to date.

But the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill, which was approved on a 13-10, party line vote, could change significantly before Congress acts on health care. Lawmakers — who want to conduct floor votes on the bill before they recess in August — are working on two other versions of the legislation.

The Senate's health committee was the first of five committees in Congress considering health care to pass a version of the legislation.

"This time we've produced legislation that by and large I think the American people want," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who has overseen the health committee as its chairman, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is being treated for brain cancer.

The legislation drew accolades from President Obama, who discussed health care at a Rose Garden ceremony honoring the American Nurses Association. The bill "will finally lower health care costs, provide better care for patients, and ensure fair treatment of consumers by the insurance agency," Obama said.

He said the current health care system "is threatening the financial stability of our families, of businesses, and of government itself. It's unsustainable and it has to change."

The bill includes subsidies for low income families and individuals to help them purchase health insurance. The government would provide financial assistance with premiums for individuals and families making up to four times the federal poverty level, or about $88,000 for a family of four.

The bill also calls for a government-run, public insurance program that Dodd and other Democrats have said will compete with private insurers to drive costs down.

But Republicans on the committee warned that the health committee's version of the bill would add to the national deficit and force millions of Americans out of the insurance they have now.