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(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., left, and Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, pick up a copy of the house health care bill HB-3962 after they took it up the steps to the House after a rally against the health care bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009.
WASHINGTON— A comparison of the health care bills before Congress.
The Democratic-controlled House passed its legislation on a 220-215 vote Saturday night. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is finalizing legislation merging the work of two committees and making other changes. The Senate Democrats' bill has not yet been made public, so some specifics are unknown.
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The House bill (Affordable Health Care for America Act):
WHO'S COVERED: About 96 percent of legal residents under age 65 _ compared with 83 percent now. About one-third of the remaining 18 million people under age 65 left uninsured would be illegal immigrants.
COST: The Congressional Budget Office says the bill's cost of expanding insurance coverage over 10 years is $1.055 trillion. The net cost is $894 billion, factoring in penalties on individuals and employers who don't comply with new requirements. That's under President Barack Obama's $900 billion goal. However, those figures leave out a variety of new costs in the bill, including increased prescription drug coverage for seniors under Medicare, so the measure may be around $1.2 trillion.
HOW IT'S PAID FOR: $460 billion over the next decade from new income taxes on single people making more than $500,000 a year and couples making more than $1 million. The original House bill taxed individuals making $280,000 a year and couples making more than $350,000, but the threshold was increased in response to lawmakers' concerns that the taxes would hit too many people and small businesses.
There are also more than $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid; a new $20 billion fee on medical device makers; $13 billion from limiting contributions to flexible spending accounts; sizable penalties paid by individuals and employers who don't obtain coverage; and a mix of other corporate taxes and fees.
REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS: Individuals must have insurance, enforced through a tax penalty of 2.5 percent of income. People can apply for hardship waivers if coverage is unaffordable.
