US News

Obama to sign health bill as attention moves back to Senate (Roundup)

Mar 22, 2010, 20:51 GMT

US President Barack Obama (L) and Vice President Joseph Biden (R) leave after making a statement at the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 21 March 2010. EPA/ALEX WONG

Washington - US President Barack Obama will sign a major health reform bill into law on Tuesday just as attention shifts to the Senate, which is expected to begin debating another round of changes to the landmark legislation.

The sweeping overhaul aimed at expanding health coverage to about 32 million uninsured Americans was approved by the House of Representatives a little before midnight on Sunday, a major victory for Democrats who long made universal health care a top priority.

But the House also passed a series of changes that must now go back to the US Senate, which approved the underlying legislation in December. Obama on Tuesday will sign the main bill, said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, before helping get its final elements through the Senate later this week.

Obama will then go on the road to convince still-skeptical voters of the merits of the controversial reforms. On Thursday he planned a speech in the US state of Iowa, Gibbs said. The year-long debate has eroded the president's popularity and left the public deeply divided over the benefits of a health overhaul.

The legislation emerged despite united Republican opposition, which argued that the most monumental changes to the health care sector in four decades were too costly and amounted to a dangerous government takeover.

The bill will for the first time require Americans to buy at least a basic form of health insurance coverage, and some conservative states have already threatened to challenge the constitutionality of that requirement in the courts.

The White House was confident the court challenges wouldn't be successful, Gibbs said Monday.