Comparing the House and Senate health care bills
The House bill
About 96 percent of legal residents under age 65 – compared with 83 percent now. Government subsidies to help buy coverage start in 2013.
The Senate bill
About 94 percent of legal residents under age 65 – compared with 83 percent now. Government subsidies to help buy coverage start in 2014.
The House bill
Coverage provisions cost $1.055 trillion over 10 years. But other provisions, including increased prescription drug coverage for seniors under Medicare, would bring total cost to about $1.2 trillion.
The Senate bill
Coverage provisions cost $871 billion over 10 years.
The House bill
$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. 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.
The Senate bill
Fees on insurance companies, drugmakers, medical device manufacturers. Medicare payroll tax increased to 2.35 percent on income over $200,000 a year for individuals, $250,000 for couples. A 10 percent sales tax on tanning salons, to be paid by customer. Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Excise tax of 40 percent on insurance companies, keyed to premiums paid on health care plans costing more than $8,500 annually for individuals and $23,000 for families. Fees for employers whose workers receive government subsidies to help them pay premiums. Fines on people who fail to purchase coverage.
The House bill
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.
The Senate bill
Almost everyone must get coverage through an employer, on their own or through a government plan. Exemptions for economic hardship. Those who are obligated to buy coverage and refuse to do so would pay a fine starting at $95 in 2014 and rising to $750.
The House bill
Employers must provide insurance to their employees or pay a penalty of 8 percent of payroll, with companies with payrolls under $500,000 annually exempt. Small businesses – those with 10 or fewer workers – get tax credits to help them provide coverage.
The Senate bill
Not required to offer coverage, but companies with more than 50 employees would pay a fee of $750 per employee if the government ends up subsidizing employees' coverage.
The House bill
Individuals and families with annual income up to 400 percent of poverty level, or $88,000 for a family of four, would get sliding-scale subsidies to help them buy coverage. The subsidies would begin in 2013.
The Senate bill
Tax credits for individuals and families likely making up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or $88,200 for a family of four. Tax credits for small employers.
The House bill
A committee would recommend a so-called essential benefits package including preventive services. Out-of-pocket costs would be capped.
The Senate bill
All plans sold to individuals and small businesses would have to cover basic benefits. The government would set four levels of coverage with the least generous paying 60 percent of costs per year and the most generous covering 90 percent.
The House bill
Starting in 2013, no denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions. No higher premiums allowed for pre-existing conditions or gender. Limits on higher premiums based on age.
The Senate bill
Starting in 2014: no denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions. No higher premiums allowed for pre-existing conditions or gender. Limits on higher premiums based on age and family size. Starting upon enactment of legislation: children up to age 26 can stay on parents insurance; no lifetime limits on coverage.
The House bill
A new public plan available through the insurance exchanges would be set up and run by the health and human services secretary.
The Senate bill
In place of "public option," the estimated 26 million Americans purchasing coverage through new insurance exchanges would have the option of signing up for national plans overseen by the same office that manages health coverage for federal employees and members of Congress. Those plans would be privately owned, but one of them would have to be operated on a nonprofit basis, as many Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are now.
The House bill
Grants 12 years of market protection to high-tech drugs used to combat cancer, Parkinson's, and other deadly diseases. Phases out the gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage by 2019.
The Senate bill
Grants 12 years of market protection to high-tech drugs used to combat cancer, Parkinson's, and other deadly diseases. Drug companies contribute $80 billion over 10 years with the majority of the money used to limit the prescription coverage gap in Medicare.
The House bill
New voluntary long-term care insurance program would provide a basic benefit designed to help seniors and disabled people avoid going into nursing homes.
The Senate bill
Same as House bill.
The House bill
Would strip the health insurance industry of a long-standing exemption from antitrust laws covering market allocation, price-fixing, and bid rigging.
The Senate bill
Maintains the health insurance industry's decades-old antitrust exemption.
The House bill
Would be barred from receiving government subsidies but permitted to use their own money to buy coverage offered by private companies in the exchange.
The Senate bill
Would be barred from receiving government subsidies or using their own money to buy coverage offered by private companies in the exchanges.
The House bill
Private companies in the exchange could not offer plans covering abortion if those plans received federal subsidy money. Most plans in the exchange would be affected, because most consumers in the exchange would be using federal subsidy money to buy coverage. The new government plan could not offer abortion coverage. Insurance companies would be permitted to offer supplemental abortion coverage in separate plans that people could buy with their own money. Use of federal money for abortion coverage would be limited to cases of rape, incest, or danger to the woman's life.
The Senate bill
No health plan would be required to offer coverage. In those that do, beneficiaries would have to pay for it separately, and those funds would have to be kept in a separate account from taxpayer money. Moreover, individual states would be able to prohibit abortion coverage in plans offered through the exchange, after passing specific legislation to that effect. Exceptions would be made for cases of rape, incest, and danger to the life of the mother.