Echoing a phrase uttered earlier this week by President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded her colleagues in the U.S. House for voting in favor of a measure “to strengthen health insurance reform.”

Five industry groups have co-authored a letter to Washington, D.C., urging congressional leadership to reconsider a provision in the new health reform reconciliation package that would enact a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on annuities.

As the U.S. Senate was taking its vote on comprehensive health reform in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama continued his warning to health insurance companies that their reign of “running roughshod over the American people is over.”

With the U.S. Senate likely to approve a comprehensive health reform bill later today (March 25), it appears the House of Representatives will need to take another vote on the measure.

While U.S. House Democratic leaders have spent the last few days rounding up votes to approve a comprehensive health reform bill, they won’t have the support of a member of their party from New Jersey.

While Democrats and Republicans gear up for a showdown on health care reform legislation, a national association representing insurers says the proposed solution raises prices and stalls necessary treatment.

With the U.S. House Budget Committee forwarding a reconciliation health care reform bill to the entire congressional chamber, one Obama Administration official says a final up-or-down vote is “only days away.”

While the Obama Administration is confident that the coming week will produce the first step in a march to victory on health care reform, at least one Republican is saying the way Democrats are fighting for change is “a political kamikaze mission.”

After a call from President Barack Obama to move health reform forward, Democratic leaders are adding fuel to the fire, saying that order can only be fulfilled through budget reconciliation.

With a mandate by President Barack Obama to wrap up the more than yearlong debate on health care reform in this country, a top administration official said, “We are in the final chapter.”