Senate panel OKs healthcare plan, 14-9

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Committee passage of healthcare reform legislation Tuesday was a "critical milestone" in changing the U.S. healthcare system, President Barack Obama said.

The $829 billion bill that emerged from the Senate Finance Committee on a 14-9 vote was a product of "vigorous debate and difficult negotiations" Obama said.

"Today we reached a critical milestone in an effort to reform our healthcare system," Obama said, later adding his thanks to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, "for her political courage and the seriousness of purpose that she's demonstrated throughout this process."

Snowe broke party ranks and joined all committee Democrats to pass the bill.

Obama said heavy lifting remained to merge five separate bills -- two in the Senate and three in the House -- into one proposal in each chamber.

The bill approved Tuesday, put before the committee by Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is the only one of five healthcare plans in Congress that does not contain a public health insurance option, offering instead healthcare cooperatives to compete with private insurance carriers.

The Senate Finance Committee vote "brought us significantly closer to bring us to the core objectives" outlined in September, Obama said. He said the bill must provide security for people with insurance, options for those who don't, curbs on behavior by insurance companies, offer an insurance exchange for one-stop, comparison shopping and be revenue neutral.

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, representing pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, called the vote an "important step" toward affordable healthcare to millions of Americans.

"We recognize that a lot of work remains in both chambers, but we're still convinced that the Senate Finance Committee's bipartisan bill is the best blueprint for comprehensive health care reform, and we are going to do our part to try and get a bill on the President's desk this year," said Billy Tauzin, the organization's president and chief executive officer.