US House of Representatives unveils its own health reform bill

Oct 29, 2009, 17:08 GMT

Washington - Democratic leaders of the US House of Representatives on Thursday unveiled their version of a health care industry overhaul that would aim to cut costs and expand insurance coverage to some 30 million Americans.

It marks another major step in a process that has been running for months in the United States, which has the costliest health care system in the world. The House could vote on its measure as early as next week.

The Senate's leading Democrats unveiled their own version on Monday. The two rivals bills, should they pass each chamber, will then have to be reconciled with each other before they can be sent to President Barack Obama for signature.

Both the Senate and House bills include a controversial government-run insurance option that has been sharply opposed by Republicans and some moderate Democrats.

But the so-called 'public option' has been watered down in each chamber. The Senate's version allows states to 'opt out' of offering the government-run option.

House Democratic leaders, in a concession to centrist party members, agreed that government officials running the public option should negotiate repayment rates directly with doctors and hospitals, rather than forcing on them a below-market rate that applies to the government's existing insurance plan offered to seniors.

The prospects of a final bill making it to the president's desk are still far from certain. Obama, who wants legislation passed by the end of this year, called the House version 'another critical milestone in the effort to reform our health care system.'