House Releases Reform Bill Draft

The Senate Finance Committee has been working on healthcare reform legislation for some time, and is thinking about tweaking their bill to make it more appealing to opponents. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has been relatively quiet about health reform in recent months. It turns out that this is because they have been busy compiling an 850 page bill that doesn't shy away from the public plan option that stirred up controversy in the Senate. It also places an increased burden on employers to ensure that workers are covered. But it does not address the cost issue, which has been especially prominent since the recent Congressional Budget Office report estimating the cost of reform at over $1 trillion over the next 10 years.

The House bill is by no means a final document, but rather a working document that will serve as the foundation for their version of reform. But ultimately, the House and the Senate need to come together on reform before it can be enacted, so it will be interesting to see if the revisions on their separate reform bills bring them closer together or move them farther apart.