New York, NY, October 23, 2009—A new Commonwealth Fund report analyzes the similarities, differences, potential impacts, and costs of current bills passed by the five committees of jurisdiction in the United States Congress: Finance Committee and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees in the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Energy and Commerce committees.
The report, Provisions of Comprehensive Health Reform Bills of 2009: Health Insurance, Delivery System, and Financing, says all of the bills include provisions that:
"The many areas of agreement among the bills currently being considered by Congress reflect broad consensus on what is needed to fix our fragmented and inefficient health care system," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. "We have a historic opportunity to enact comprehensive national health care reform that ensures that all Americans can get the high quality, affordable health care we need and deserve."
The report also points out that there are differences among the bills in terms of how reform would be financed, and what actions would be taken to control costs and expand coverage, including:
The report will be updated continually as the legislation evolves. An audio companion piece from Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis, additional breakdowns, comparisons, and an interactive side-by-side chart are available on The Commonwealth Fund's Web site, www.commonwealthfund.org .
The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation supporting independent research on health policy reform and a high performance health system.