USA: Historic health plan will pass says Obama

US President Barack Obama led Democrats in a triumphant, fist-pumping rally on Saturday and confidently predicted Congress would rise to a century-old challenge and pass his health care overhaul. "It is in your hands, it is time to pass health care reform for America, and I am confident that you are going to do it tomorrow," told his allies on the eve of a cliffhanger House of Representatives vote.

Using a blend of expanded government health programs and subsidies for millions to buy private insurance, the bill would add some 32 million Americans to the ranks of those covered for a total of 95 per cent of Americans a century after Theodore Roosevelt called for a national approach to US health care.

As Obama spoke, thousands of protesters outside the Capitol chanted "kill the bill" and waved signs branding the president and his proposal "socialist" and politicians "corrupt," cheered on by the Republican minority.

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