After a landmark win in the U.S. House of Representatives, President Barack Obama's push for healthcare reform faces a complex path in the Senate amid divisions in his own Democratic Party on how to proceed.
On a 220-215 vote, including the support of one Republican and opposition from 39 Democrats, the House backed a bill late on Saturday that would enlarge coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.
The battle now shift to the Senate, where work on Obama's top domestic priority has been stalled for weeks as Democratic leader Harry Reid searches for an approach that can win the 60 votes he wants to overcome Republican procedural hurdles.
Democrats have no margin for error - they control accurately 60 seats in the 100-member chamber. Some reasonable Democrats have rebelled at Reid's plan to include a new government-run insurance program, known as the "public option," in the bill.
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