Health care reforms in the United States

Health care reform is a major issue agenda in the United States aside economic recovery. President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders of Congress are keen to overhaul the current health care system, calling it inefficient and health care available under it unaffordable for many Americans. They seek to replace it with a comprehensive national system of health insurance. Republican leaders seek to achieve similar goals by promoting what they term "free market" solutions.
In 2009, the overhaul of the health care system in the United States was approved and the Senate passed an $871 billion bill. This was a major step towards health care reform and the stage was now set. By the end of March 2009, the chairmen of five Congressional committees had reached a consensus on the main ingredients of legislation, and insurance industry representatives had made some major concessions. The chairmen, all Democrats, agreed that all American citizens by law must pay for their own health insurance or face financial penalties up to $695 annually and that employers should be required to help pay for it. They also agreed that the government should offer a public health insurance plan as an alternative to private insurance.
But the matter started to become complicated when the Democratic Party lost its Senate seat in Massachusetts to Republicans losing its 60th vote which gave it an advantage over the Republicans. A health care reform was further dealt a blow with the announcement that Billy Tauzin, a top lobbyist who positioned the pharmaceutical industry firmly behind health-care reform, would resign. A meeting held between Democrat and Republican lawmakers on February 25, 2010, resulted in an impasse.
After a historic vote on March 21, 2010, the House of Representatives passed the original Senate reform bill H.R. 3590 with a 219-212 vote, along with the Reconciliation Act of 2010 H.R. 4872 with a 220-211 vote. No Republicans voted Aye for either the Senate reform bill, or the Reconciliation Act of 2010. President Barack Obama signed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. No. 111-148) into law in the United States on March 23, 2010. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 passed the Senate by a vote of 56-43 on March 25, 2010. President Obama signed the health care reconciliation bill into law on Tuesday, March 30, at Northern Virginia Community College.