I'm confused, Is the healthcare bill H.R. 3200?

Or are there several? And if so, which one do I refer to when talking to people about this? I noticed this morning on another politics board I check out, a handful of conservatives are confusing the debate.

This seems important to know if I'm talking to friends and neighbors, I want to get this detail straight.

;)

There are two in the Senate that haven't been merged yet.

Well, there's one in the Senate. And then there's whatever Uncle Max Baucus's crazy bipartisan panel is conjuring up.

Or are they all basically the same?

...there's no guarantee that the final bill will look like that.

debunking myths and truths of the healthcare debate, the ones at whitehouse.gov. I can hear people splitting hairs on the bill thing.

As such every bill being considered is unacceptable. No person, just for being alive, should be forced to buy anything, much less be forced to purchase the product of an evil insurance company.

Forcing people to buy insurance is no more the solution to a failed health care system than forcing people to buy houses is the solution to homelessness.

:dem:

-Laelth

Which is odd because the RW mob always refers to the bill as "it", as in "have you read it?"

No I haven't, nobody has, including you dumbass.

Excuse me? Are you referring to the conservatives?

HR3200 is one form of the bill. Far from being final. HR676 is the single payer bill (YESSSS!) ( I heard it was @11 pages)
there are 2 committee bills in the senate so far and one steaming pile of shit yet to come from Baucus/ Grassley.

would have been nice. There would still have been no BILL to refer to, but at least Reid and company would have been able to start working in drafting a Senate version of the bill from the two committee versions and hopefully have something they can start debating soon after they come back in September.

Has this process been unusual? Not necessarily the vitriol, but several bills in the house, Senate working on there's at the same time? I don't mean to nit-pick, and I don't know if I'm explaining well . . . my brain hurts today. I guess I'm suspecting the RW is nit-picking this aspect, inventing another red herring.

That's why they say its like making sausage. Its how congress works - committees create versions of a bill, they are whittled down to one version for House and Senate and further whittled down to a single bill that gets a final vote and the President's signature. The it becomes law.

I should know, I saw it on Sesame Street.

I know the process, the basics, but I'm wondering if this particular one is unusual.

Having no bill is a double edged sword. It enables the Repubs to hype these lies, and while it's true if there's no one bill they can't honestly say they know what's in it, unfortunately, I'm realizing, neither can we.

Its hard to argue with the big picture.

Health care for all people would be a dream come true in my mind.

You instantly know they are full of shit. As mentioned above there are three House bills and two Senate bills. Each must be voted out of committee, reconciled and voted on by the full body. These House and Senate bills then need to be reconciled into a final bill and voted on again by both the House and Senate before being signed by the President.

These stupid fuckers don't even know how their government works let alone what is and is not in "the bill." Here's all you have to do - just ask them how much their insurance premiums and deductibles have increased over past five years and if they know anyone who has been really screwed by their insurance company. If they say they are on Medicare, tell them to shut the fuck up since they have socialized medical coverage and you are paying their premiums.

That person will be paying actual monthly Premiums for that coverage, often multiple Premiums. So if you are not actually writing a check to pay those Premiums, that will not be a big winner of a statement to make. They are paying their Premiums. Monthly. As well as deductibles and co-pays and all that stuff. Many Democratic voters who support good health care reform are Medicare beneficiaries, and they will be glad to tell you that you are not paying their premiums, but that they are in fact paying them. Not only is such an very incorrect, it misses out on an actual good selling point for reform. Medicare Premiums keep rising. It gets more expensive every year. More participants can mean a better payer base, and more steady premiums in the future. We might even be able to let all of us have an actual 'free ride' in retirement if we were all in the same game. The free ride that no one has now, not even Tea Bagging aholes. Medicare is not free, not anything like free, and everybody on it pays premiums. Many are forced to pay for HMO 'advantage' plans just to get care, depending on their area, so they are paying the Government and also a private company, monthly premiums. Part D, for drugs, is another premium.
Or if you'd like, you actually could pay their premiums. Lord knows they do.

I was being flippant - I apologize, but we are also paying into the pool that helps cover their costs. If that were not the case, there would be no concern as the retired baby boomers swamp the pool of working adults over the next decade. But I'm not really trying to argue your point at all - its spot on!

it goes into pretty good detail.

http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/healthreform_tri_full.pdf