Congress, Health Care Bill | featured news

As lawmakers take a recess, several Dems ready to give in if it means getting the trillion-dollar bill to Obama quickly.

LIVE BLOGGING | Debate leads up to a vote that serves as a critical test for Obama's proposal.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the Senate health care bill would cost $849 billion over 10 years, a Democratic source and an administration official said.

After earlier fits and starts, legislation to insure nearly all Americans is approaching votes in the House and in the Senate.

As Democratic congressional leaders and White House officials work to shape health care bills that will go to the House and Senate floors, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and now wins clear majority support from the public.

Measures pending in Congress push insurers to keep down costs and cover all regardless of health. Despite growing frustration with the way health insurers deny medical treatments, major healthcare bills pending in Congress would give patients little new power to challenge those sometimes life-and-death decisions.