U.S. Senate panel to vote next week on healthcare

(For coverage of U.S. healthcare reform, click on [nN20512341])

WASHINGTON Oct 8 (Reuters) - A key U.S. Senate panel will vote on a sweeping healthcare overhaul next week as the battle over President Barack Obama's top domestic priority enters a new stage.

The Senate Finance Committee's healthcare bill received a rosy report card on Wednesday from a budget watchdog, which said it would meet Obama's goal of reducing the budget deficit over 10 years.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office put the total cost at $829 billion, below Obama's $900 billion goal, in a report likely to clear the way for committee approval and an eventual debate on the floor of the Senate.

"Today we stand closer than ever to fulfilling that fundamental promise, the one for which we have fought for more than 60 years," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said of healthcare reform.

He said the committee would vote on the bill on Tuesday but has not officially set a date and time yet.

Once approved by the committee, Reid and other Senate Democratic leaders will merge the Finance Committee bill with one passed by the Senate health panel earlier this year for Senate consideration.

Republicans said that process would reshape the bill again, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell labeled the CBO report "irrelevant."

"What matters is that the final bill will cost about a trillion dollars, vastly expand the role of government in people's healthcare decisions, increase premiums and limit choice," he said.

Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives are working to merge three healthcare bills into one in that chamber for a debate in the next few weeks.

Shares of health insurers fell more than 3 percent on Thursday morning after the CBO report eased doubts about Senate Finance Committee approval of the bill.

Under the bill, all people would be required to have insurance but insurers would face stiff new regulations -- including a prohibition on rejecting coverage for people due to pre-existing medical conditions.

The bill also would impose a tax on higher-cost insurance plans, but does not include a government-run "public" insurance option opposed by the insurance industry. (Editing by Eric Beech)