House Democrats heatlh care plan much more moderate than expected

Health care reform debate -- which has been worked on mostly behind closed doors until this point -- has hit the floor and the public today.

Earlier today, House Democrats released an outline of their bill. (Forgive the jargon, but it's called the "House Tri-Committee bill" because three House committees with jurisdiction over healthcare have been working on it.)

The surprising thing about the House Dems version is that it appears much more moderate than people expected, and it seems to reflect the concerns of Blue Dog Democrats and moderates who have big problems with a Medicare-like public plan.

There are three big questions on health care reform:
1) Will there by a public/government? option that would compete with private plans?
2) Will there be mandates (on individuals to have coverage and on employers to provide it?
3) How will it all paid for?

The House Dems version does have a public/government option, but it's not a Medicare-like plan favored by liberals like Ted Kennedy. Instead, the bill will have a "public health insurance option that's self-sustaining and competes on a level field with private insurers."

The House Dems version also has a "pay or play" mandate for employers to provide health insurance to their workers, but it is not a strict as business groups had feared.

And on the third big issue -- how do you pay for all of this? -- well, House Dems avoided that one. The bill puts no new revenue ideas on the table, and doesn't even begin to talk about how to pay for it any detail.