The 219-212 vote marks the biggest victory yet for President Barack Obama, who will soon sign the bill into law. Only Democrats voted for the legislation, underscoring a partisan divide that promises to make health care the defining issue in November's congressional elections....

To get it done, House Democrats approved a Senate bill passed in December while preparing for another vote on a measure that would amend the Senate legislation to fix provisions they don't like. The Senate must also pass this second bill under a budget process called reconciliation that requires a simple majority vote. The chamber plans to act next week.

Total Costs

The two bills together will cost $940 billion over 10 years and cover 32 million uninsured Americans, the Congressional Budget Office estimated. That's more than made up for with a new tax on the highest earners, fees on health-care companies and hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare savings, which will reduce the federal budget deficit, the CBO said.

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