For Barack Obama and the American people, it is the best opportunity for them to celebrate during the recession period as US Senate has approved the universal health care reform bill. Since American people have suffered a lot since the financial crisis, it is a precious and the best gift in Christmas.

This approved bill will be consolidated with the House-passed medical reform version, and finally reach a compromise version to be submitted in the next year. Obama is expected to sign it in January of 2010. Then, the United States will enter a new era with universal health insurance.

Differences in two versions

As meida report, there are still many differences in two versions from the House and the Senate. And it is expanding.

First, in terms of financing, the House version proposes that the government could collect more taxes from the rich class. Specifically, 5.4% income tax applies to individuals with the annual income of more than 500,000 US dollars and families with more than one million US dollars annual income. In contrast, the Senate version does not propose any tax increase for the wealthy class, but insists on high taxation policies.

Second, another conflict between these two versions lies in the role the US government should play. The House version suggests that the government should provide basic health insurance products for low-income groups, while the Senate version agrees that the government should not involve into the insurance business directly, some not-profit organisations instead, could help the US government get involved.

In addition, both versions have different opinions on the extent of supervision of the employer's medical insurance contribution as well as the controversial issue about abortion.

Achievement

The current US health care system seems so ridiculous that the health insurance cost keep rising overwhelmingly but millions of Americans still stay aways from the care of the basic medical insurance. Data shows that in recent years, the US government has fund up to 2 trillion US dollars, accounting for 17% of GDP, there are still nearly 50 million people (16% of the total population) without health insurance. The US government expects that health care expenditure in the future will grow at 6.2% annually. If no reform is applies, the United States will get troubled to pay for the huge medical expenses in 2020.

Obama, in fact, is not the first president who tried to reform the medical system. In history, Truman, Roosevelt, Clinton all tries to promote reform, but ended in failure. "Change" makes Obama famous worldwide. As he vowed to push the reform of medical insurance forward and has succeeded partly, this landmark success will establish Obama's first political legacy.