**US President Barack Obama is to head to Capitol Hill as he seeks the backing of a final few Democrats ahead of a vote on sweeping healthcare reform.**Democratic leaders are seeking to ensure they have the 216 votes needed to pass the bill in a vote in the House of Representatives expected on Sunday.
Mr Obama will make his last appeal in a face-to-face visit to House Democrats.
It comes a day after he gave a fiery speech at a rally in which he urged lawmakers to pass a “historic vote”.
The reforms would deliver on Mr Obama’s top domestic priority by providing insurance to some 32 million Americans who currently lack coverage.
Senior Democrats have been working for days to secure enough House of Representatives votes among their own party to pass a Senate version of the bill.
The Republicans are unanimously opposed to the legislation, which they say is unaffordable and represents a government takeover of a large part of the country’s economy.
‘Time is now’
Mr Obama has held dozens of meetings and phone calls in recent days with Democratic House members wavering over whether to back the bill or not.
It remains unclear exactly how many votes the party can count on.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was quoted by AFP news agency as saying she was “very excited about the momentum that is developing around the bill”.
Some lawmakers want tighter language in the bill to make sure no federal money can be used for abortions, while others are concerned about cost or say its reforms do not go far enough.
The BBC’s Madeleine Morris in Washington says the stakes are high for the president and the Democrats, as healthcare reform is seen as the signature issue of Mr Obama’s administration.
If the Democrats cannot get the legislation through despite having a majority in both Houses of Congress, their opponents say it will call into question their ability to govern and may well have repercussions in November’s mid-term elections, our correspondent says.
Speaking in Virginia on Friday, Mr Obama described the congressional vote as the culmination of a century-long struggle.
Appealing to lawmakers and citizens to back the legislation, he said: “The time for reform is right now.”
He dismissed Republican criticism of the bill as too costly and said the country could not afford not to pass the reforms.
Deficit reduction
The House of Representatives and the Senate adopted different versions of the bill in November and December.
The usual procedure would be for two versions of legislation to be combined into a single bill for President Obama to sign into law.
MARDELL’S AMERICA
“I can’t help thinking the Democrats haven’t been trying or even thinking that hard about how to win this argument”
Mark Mardell
BBC North America editor
Q&A: US healthcare reform](http://www.paklinks.com/2/low/americas/8160058.stm)
Your views on healthcare reform
But after Senate Democrats lost the 60-seat majority required to defeat a filibuster by Republicans, Democratic leaders decided to use a controversial procedure to ensure the bill’s passage.
Under the plan, the House will vote on a package of reconciliation “fixes” amending the Senate bill.
The Senate will then be able to make changes in a separate bill using a procedure known as reconciliation, which allows budget provisions to be approved with 51 votes - rather than the 60 needed to overcome blocking tactics.
According to Congressional Budget Office, the final version of the Democrats’ healthcare plan will cut the federal deficit by $138bn over 10 years.
The non-partisan body said the proposed legislation would cost about $940bn over a decade.
The reforms would increase insurance coverage through tax credits for the middle class and expansion of the Medicaid programme for the poor.
If approved, they would represent the biggest change in the US healthcare system since the creation in the 1960s of Medicare, the government-run scheme for Americans aged 65 or over.
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