Congress Summary, by OC

…Rep.John Dingell

To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes

This is the big health care reform bill in the House of Representatives that will be debated and voted on during the week of November 2nd. It is the final, reconciled version of the health care bill that was amended by three House committees over the summer. Broadly, it seeks to expand health care coverage to the approximately 40 million Americans who are currently uninsured by lowering the cost of health care and making the system more efficient. To that end, it includes a new government-run insurance plan (a.k.a. a public option) to compete with the private companies, a requirement that all Americans have health insurance, a ban on denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition and, to pay for it all, a surtax on individuals with incomes above $500,000.

check out opencongress.org for the full legislation text, you can download the 1990-page bill as a PDF from the House Rules Committee.