WRAPUP 10-House passes sweeping U.S. healthcare overhaul

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

* House passes biggest health overhaul in four decades

* Healthcare battle to move to U.S. Senate

* Vote is big step forward for Obama priority

(Adds details after final vote)

By John Whitesides and Donna Smith

WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved a sweeping healthcare reform bill on Saturday, backing the biggest health policy changes in four decades and handing President Barack Obama a crucial victory.

On a narrow 220-215 vote, including the support of one Republican, the House endorsed a bill that would expand coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions.

Most Republicans criticized its $1 trillion price tag, new taxes on the wealthy and what they said was excessive government interference in the private health sector.

Democrats cheered and hugged when the 218th vote was recorded, and again when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pounded the gavel and announced the results.

The battle over Obama's top domestic priority now moves to the U.S. Senate, where work on its own version has stalled for weeks as Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid searches for an approach that can win the 60 votes he needs.

Any differences between the Senate and House bills ultimately will have to be reconciled, and a final bill passed again by both before going to Obama for his signature.

"Thanks to the hard work of the House, we are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America. Now the United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation," Obama said in a statement after the vote.

"I am absolutely confident it will, and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year," he said.

The overhaul would spark the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system, which accounts for one sixth of the U.S. economy, since the creation of the Medicare government health program for the elderly in 1965.

ABORTION DEAL