The House moved Saturday night toward a vote on the most sweeping healthcare bill in generations, one that would guarantee health coverage to almost all Americans.

After a personal push from President Barack Obama, the House of Representatives Saturday stood poised to pass historic healthcare legislation that would guarantee virtually all Americans access to care.

A new obstacle course awaited in the Senate.

Obama met for half an hour with House Democrats as the all-day debate was starting Saturday morning, and compared the healthcare effort to Democrats' championing of Social Security and Medicare.

``Now is the time to finish the job,'' Obama said later in brief remarks in the White House Rose Garden.

Democratic leaders were hoping for a final vote on the bill late in the night, after a last-minute deal was struck with abortion opponents that would make it clear federal funds could not be used to pay for elective abortions. They believed they had the 218 votes necessary for passage, with at least four votes to spare.

Republicans, who expressed unanimous opposition to the Democratic bill, offered an alternative measure that relied heavily on loosening regulations on private insurers to reduce costs for those who currently have insurance, in some cases by as much as 10 percent. But congressional budget analysts said the plan would make no dent in the ranks of the uninsured, an assessment that highlighted the difference in priorities between the two political parties.

The House bill -- which Republican Rep. Roy Blunt denounced as ``a 2,000-page road map to a government takeover of healthcare'' -- would make the biggest changes in the nation's healthcare system since Medicare was created 44 years ago to provide coverage for seniors and the disabled.

It would:

1. Create a government-run plan, or ``public option,'' to offer insurance coverage that would compete with private sector.

2. Set up health insurance ``exchanges,'' or marketplaces, where consumers can easily compare coverage and rates.

3. Require nearly everyone to obtain health insurance coverage starting in 2013.

4. Require health plans to allow young adults to remain on their parents' policies until their 27th birthday.

5. Provide federal financial help for lower- and middle-income consumers so they can obtain coverage.

6. Bar insurers from denying or limiting coverage because of preexisting conditions.

7. Bar insurers from imposing lifetime limits on coverage.

8. Expand Medicaid coverage to more people.

9. Impose a 5.4 percent surcharge on adjusted gross incomes of more than $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for joint filers.

10. Impose penalties on people and businesses who fail to comply with the new law.

Passage of the bill by the House would be the first crucial step to overhauling healthcare; Senate Democrats hope to act by the end of the year, and the two chambers would then craft a compromise that would need approval of each chamber.

Under the framework of the House measure, 96 percent of eligible Americans would have health insurance, up from the current 83 percent.

`LET'S DO IT'

Obama took no questions from lawmakers, but his presence was a vivid reminder that the president has put healthcare overhaul at the top of his domestic agenda -- a change that has eluded presidents for nearly a century.

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