US lawmakers appeared close to a compromise Wednesday on reforming the country's costly health-care system, a top domestic policy priority of President Barack Obama, reported the dpa. Democratic Party leaders in the House of Representatives hammered out a deal with a fiscally conservative faction within their own centre-left party. But the deal postpones any House vote on the health-care reforms until at least September. The legislation, designed to rein in spiralling costs and extend insurance to about 47 million people who lack coverage, is being ironed out by five separate House and Senate committees. The plans have sharply divided Republicans and Democrats, and the talks have at times appeared deadlocked. A bipartisan group of senators are currently thrashing out their own compromise version. Obama originally hoped both chambers would pass their initial versions of a health reform bill before Congress' summer recess on August 10. But he grudgingly praised the apparent compromise on Wednesday.
