As the end of the year approaches, the Obama Administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress continue to move closer toward achieving their goal of enacting health care reform legislation. The House passed the “Affordable Health Care for America Act” (H.R. 3962) on November 7, 2009. Currently, the Senate is debating the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (Proposed Amendment to H.R. 3590), the substitute amendment released by Senate Majority Leader Reid in November. The attached side-by-side comparison summarizes key provisions of these two bills in the areas of insurance market reform, the individual and employer mandates, the Exchange provisions, the public plan options, and tax “revenue raisers.” The attached “Key Terms” chart provides definitions for commonly-used terms in both bills.

We expect a “manager’s amendment” to the Senate bill to be released in the next several days. Some of the Senate provisions may change as a result of this amendment, most notably the possible elimination of the public plan option. Notwithstanding the current push to have the Senate pass its version of health care reform legislation before the end of the year, it is likely that debate on these issues will continue into 2010.

View the Side-By-Side Comparison
View the Key Terms Chart

 

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