Health OVERHAUL closer than EVER!!

Eight months in office, Barack Obama has now pushed closer than any other president in generations to creating a basic health care safety net for working Americans. Yet the fate of legislation delivering on his goal is far from certain: Republicans are nearly unified in opposition, Democrats hardly united in support.

The 10-year, $900 billion bill would remake one-sixth of the U.S. economy, clearing a path to health insurance for millions who don't have it now. It would be financed by reducing Medicare and Medicaid payments to health care providers, and by ordering new taxes and fees that are already meeting resistance. Insurers would no longer be able to turn away those in poor health.

The government-run plan doesn't appear to have the votes to clear the Senate. In the House, it's the other way around. A bill that doesn't include a government plan to compete with private insurers won't get off the floor, Democratic leaders say. The House plan taxes the wealthy to pay for subsidies needed to make health coverage affordable for millions who are now uninsured. The Senate instead taxes the health care haves — those with expensive insurance plans.

Still, the wrangling obscures considerable agreement on what the health care system would look like after it's reengineered. Some of the outlines have emerged:

• Although government will play a bigger role than it does now, most people will still be covered by private insurance plans sponsored by their employers.

• Medicaid will be expanded to cover more low-income people, including childless adults for the first time.

• Self-employed people and those working for a company that doesn't provide health insurance will be able to buy coverage through new insurance purchasing pools called exchanges. Government would provide tax credits for many middle class people. Insurers participating in the exchanges will have to take all applicants and will be limited in what they can charge those who are older and sicker.

• Medicare would adopt a new philosophy geared to better coordinating care for seniors with chronic illnesses and trying to keep them out of the hospital.