WASHINGTON — 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 Sunday in the Rose Garden after returning from the presidential retreat at Camp David.
The president said he’s confident that the Senate will pass a health-care bill. He assured senators that they will join House members in looking back on the passage of health-care reform as their finest moment in public service.
Key details of Dems’ health-overhaul bill
The House health care bill passed Saturday would:
* Require most Americans to buy health insurance or pay a fine.
* Expand health-care coverage to 36 million more people over the next decade.
* Require employers with payrolls of more than $500,000 to provide insurance to their employees or pay a fine.
* Prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions.
* End premium disparities between men and women.
* Impose a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on income of more than $500,000 annually for individuals and more than $1 million annually for households.
* Establish a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers beginning in 2013.
* The cost would be $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
* Cut Medicare spending by more than $400 billion over 10 years.
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