PHILLIPS: It's the most sweeping health care overhaul in decades. So, what's in the bill and what's in it for you? It will make coverage available to 32 million Americans, that's what it will do, the ones that are now living without health insurance. And it would forbid insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions. But, it would require most Americans to purchase insurance whether they want it or not. If they refuse, they could face penalties.
Now, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the measure, as it stands today, would cut deficits by an estimated $138 billion over a decade.
OK. Just before midnight, President Obama stepped before the White House cameras and hailed the reform as, quote, "a victory for the American people." Take a listen.
BARRACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After nearly 100 years of talk and frustration, after decades of trying and a year of sustained effort and debate, the United States congress finally declared that America's workers and America's families and America's small businesses deserve the security of knowing that here in this country, neither illness nor accident should endanger the dreams they've worked a lifetime to achieve.
PHILLIPS: But the top Republican in the House says the overall is being forced on a public that just doesn't want it.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: We have failed to listen to America, and we have failed to reflect the will of our constituents. And when we fail to reflect that will, we fail ourselves and we fail our country. And look at how this bill was written? Can you say it was done openly? With transparency and accountability? Without back room deals struck behind closed doors, hidden from the people? Hell, no, you can't.
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