Big Brother, Uncle Sam Part III

There are two things that I have learned that I think others should know about health care reform: 1) there are several proposals floating around in the U.S. House and Senate, and 2) the early leader appears to be H.R. 3200, also known as the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.

That bill is the 1000+ page proposal you might have heard about. The big dog that couldn't be rushed through before the summer break. This measure, or any other, could change substantially before being voted on. The legislative process has a lot of potential twists and turns. At the moment, House DEMS are preparing the AAHCA to go to the floor in September. The bill has made it through three committees, or as House Majority Leader's Web site says, "the farthest comprehensive health reform effort has ever gotten."

The Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-partisan group that studies healthcare reform, has a side-by-side comparison of the major proposals and drafts introduced this year on its Web site. This is a particularly valuable tool for anyone wanting some basic information about the major proposals.

I recommend generating a more general comparison between the Senate Finance Committee's policy options, the Senate HELP plan, H.R. 3200 and Obama's 8 principals for reform. This will give you a sort of broad idea of what members of Congress are working on. But, you can be as specific as you want to be.

One thing that seems clear to me is that any comprehensive reform is likely to require all individuals to have health insurance. This will upset many, but will likely please those who are hard-pressed to find coverage.

Please feel free to use the links in this post as a reference tool, and share them with anyone who wants to learn more about health care reform.