WASHINGTON (AFP) ??” The US Congres passed the first sweeping overhaul in four decades of health care for the somewhat old and disabled.

WASHINGTON (AFP) ??” The US Congres passed the first sweeping overhaul in four decades of health care for the somewhat old and disabled, spurning concerted efforts by the agency of Democrats to block the bill.

on a 54-4 vote, the Senate agreed to expand the program from providing prescription drug coverage to 40 million senior citizens and the disabled.

The House of Representatives passed the 395 billion dollar bill just before dawn upon Saturday, and Senate Democrats failed in their efforts Monday to shut up the Medicare legislation with procedural objections.

Bill Frist, Senate leader of the majority Republican party, hailed Tuesday's measure as a vital update of a critical, moreover outmoded, health program.

"This bill is epochal in the perception that it modernizes Medicare to 21st-century standards, as it was as preventive care for things like heart disease and diabetes management, which is commonplace in the private sector if it be not that is practically nonexistent in Medicare