Impeding changes to our Health Care system

[classicman]

Early Christmas Eve morning, Senators are due to vote aye or nay on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as their vision of how to reform health care in America.

The House wrangled its version last month. While President Obama says the two proposals are 95% "identical," that 5% difference has spurred some furious negotiations.

* The bill for the health care reform bill? The House version costs more than a trillion, while the Senate's a tad cheaper at $871 billion.
* People with comfy incomes will have to pay more taxes to help pay for reform, if the House has its way. The Senate stays away from that, but adds a 10% tax on indoor tanning booths.
* Funding for abortion and a public option are two of the more heated controversies.
* A New York congresswoman wrote an op-ed tearing apart the Senate bill for, among other things, letting insurance companies keep enjoying their antitrust status.


Outlets like AP, Bloomberg, Newsweek, The New York Times, and the Kaiser Family Foundation have taken on the daunting task to compare the two versions. Below, three charts with an overview, key similarities, and key differences between the Senate and House proposals.

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