Health care reform legislation will be debated in the House this coming week, and the issue is all teed up.
H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, was introduced last week—all 1,990 pages of it.
You can see it by clicking “Read the bill” in the “Learn more” box on the bill’s page.
The Los Angeles Times has a good story answering questions about what the bill is meant to do.
The bill also has a score from the Congressional Budget Office. What it boils down to is this: a cost of over $7,800 per U.S. family. (Read about our methodology here.)
Here’s some summary language from CBO:
The estimate includes a projected net cost of $894 billion over 10 years for the proposed expansions in insurance coverage. That net cost itself reflects a gross total of $1,055 billion in subsidies provided through the exchanges (and related spending), increased net outlays for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and tax credits for small employers; those costs are partly offset by $167 billion in collections of penalties paid by individuals and employers. On balance, other effects on revenues and outlays associated with the coverage provisions add $6 billion to their total cost.
Over the 2010–2019 period, the net cost of the coverage expansions would be more than offset by the combination of other spending changes, which CBO estimates would save $426 billion, and receipts resulting from the income tax surcharge on high-income individuals and other provisions, which JCT and CBO estimate would increase federal revenues by $572 billion over that period.
Read the whole estimate (only 27 pages) by clicking “Read an analysis of the bill” in the “Learn more” box on the bill’s page.
For or against? That’s the important question.
Here’s the current vote on the bill. Click to vote, comment, learn more or edit the wiki article on the bill.