WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate backed a plan on Thursday to make it easier for women to get preventive health services such as mammograms as it cast its first votes on a sweeping healthcare overhaul.

On the fourth day of a sometimes bitter debate, the Senate voted 61-39 for an amendment to improve access to women’s screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes by eliminating insurance co-pays and deductibles for them.

The move follows last month’s controversy over federal task force recommendations that women delay regular mammograms for breast cancer and from a doctor’s group that women delay pap smears for cervical cancer.

On a 59-41 vote, the Senate rejected a companion Republican amendment to ensure the task force recommendations could be ignored, which Democrats said was “too tepid” and would not remove cost barriers to screenings.

The votes broke a two-day Senate stalemate that had stalled progress on the healthcare reform bill, which is President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority. On Wednesday night, party leaders finally agreed on a timeline for the votes.

Senate Democratic leaders have vowed to pass the healthcare bill by the end of December but Republicans want to prolong the debate into the 2010 campaign season in hopes public opposition to the plan will grow.

The Senate bill is designed to rein in costs, expand coverage to about 30 million uninsured Americans and halt insurance practices such as denying coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions.

National polls show opinion is divided on the overhaul. A Thomson Reuters poll on Thursday found most Americans back a government-run public insurance option in the plan but doubt if the bill will improve their healthcare in the short-term.

The Senate bill would require everyone to have insurance, provide federal subsidies to help them pay for coverage and create a government-run insurance option to compete with private industry.

DELICATE COALITION

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid faces a difficult task keeping his fragile coalition together for potential votes on the public option and on language restricting use of federal funds to pay for abortions.

Democrats control 60 votes in the 100-member Senate -- the number needed to overcome Republican opposition -- but a handful of moderate Democrats have objected to the public option and abortion provisions.

The amendment to ease access to preventive health screenings like mammograms, authored by Democrat Barbara Mikulski, drew support from three Republicans -- Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and David Vitter. Two Democrats, Russ Feingold and Ben Nelson, voted against it.

Senator Evan Bayh speaks at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, August 27, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Segar

The first few days of the debate featured heavy political skirmishing. The Senate votes later on Thursday on a Republican amendment highlighting the bill’s more than $400 billion in cuts in Medicare, the health program for the elderly.

Democrats accused Republicans of scare tactics for claiming the cuts will reduce benefits for seniors, a key voting bloc that polls show have great concerns about the overhaul.

Democrats say the cuts would simply reduce the growth in payments to Medicare providers and would extend the program’s solvency by five years.

“They’ve apparently decided there’s no way to defend these Medicare cuts so they’ll just deny they’re doing it,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. “It hardly passes the smell test.”

The House of Representatives passed its version of the overhaul last month. If the Senate passes a bill, the two versions will have to be reconciled in January and passed again by each chamber before being sent to Obama for his signature.