President Obama signed the health care bill Tuesday, reforming the country's health insurance practices.
Ending a year-long partisan battle, and decades of failed efforts to launch health care reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is now the law of the land, the Washington Post reported.
"The bill I'm signing will set in motion reforms that generations of Americans have fought for and marched for and hungered to see," Obama is quoted as saying in the New York Times.
Winning with a slim majority of votes, the health care overhaul received no Republican support, the Washington Post reported.
"This is a somber day for the American people," said House Republican Leader John Boehner, as quoted by the New York Times "By signing this bill, President Obama is abandoning our founding principle that government governs best when it governs closest to the people."
According to the New York Times, the new bill will require almost all Americans to have health insurance, and will provide subsidies to low and middle-income Americans to help cover the cost.
