Washington, Oct 13 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The Senate Finance Committee voted (14-9) for a sweeping overhaul of the Healthcare Bill. This is the first step in greatly transforming the Health care bill.

All the republicans voted against the bill and just one Republican, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, voted for the bill. But this was no mean feat as the White House, had heavily courted Snowe, and it allowed overhaul advocates claiming that there was a vestige of GOP support for the measure.

“Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it,” Snowe said in announcing her vote. “But when history calls, history calls.” He also said that, “My vote today is my vote today,” Snowe said. “It doesn’t forecast what my vote will be tomorrow.”

The bill would need Americans to have basic health-care insurance, and it would provide federal subsidies to help low-income workers get access to insurance, establish new insurance marketplaces, regulate health insurer practices and expand Medicaid too. This overhaul plan is estimated to cost $829 billion over the next 10 years to the exchequer.

“This is our opportunity to make history,” said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.). “Now is the time to get this done.”

“Today, we see the fears that we had were legitimate and justified,” Sen. Charles Grassley said. “I still hold out hope the doorway to bipartisanship will be opened once again.” “There’s a lot in this bill that’s just a consensus that needs to be done, but there are other provisions of this bill that raise a lot of questions,” Grassley said, contending the legislation would mean higher costs for Americans.