By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Some New Yorkers, including health care professionals, rejoiced on Sunday night, as the U.S. House of Representatives approved a historic overhaul of the nation’s health care system.
The House passed President Barack Obama's controversial health care bill by a narrow 219-212 margin on Sunday, four months after it passed in the Senate.
The new law will lead to an increase in much-needed revenue for New York hospitals, Norman Blake, 39, a paramedic at New York Downtown Hospital told the Daily News.
"The more people covered means the hospital stays healthy," Blake told the paper.
Daniel Barberis, 35, an ER technician at NYU Medical Center, echoed Blake’s prediction of increased hospital revenue.
"With preventative care, [patients] save their own lives — and the money it would cost them and taxpayers," Barberis told the paper.
However, Josh Namm, 24, a second-year medical student expressed concerns that the bill would hurt doctors and medical students.
"A lot of us students are worrying about paying back our student loans," he told the New York Post. "We have a couple of hundred thousand dollars in student loans, and we're not sure if we'll be making the same amount as doctors are now if this passes."
All of the congressmen from Manhattan voted in favor of the $940 billion bill, according to a list of congressional votes provided by the New York Times.
Rep. Michael McMahon of Staten Island represented the lone “nay” vote among House members from New York City.
"I could not vote for a bill that might lead to another hospital closure in our district," McMahon told the News.
However, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of Manhattan called it a “bill that will have immeasurable benefits for the American people for years to come.”
“I am proud to cast my vote in favor the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act,” Nadler, a Democrat who represents several neighborhoods on Manhattan’s west side, said in a statement.
