On October 19, 2009, the Senate Finance Committee released its formal version of S. 1769, America’s Healthy Future Act (“Senate bill”). Ten days later, the House leadership unveiled its health reform bill, H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (“House bill”). Both bills are a work in progress, but the concepts below will likely be addressed as the two chambers merge their proposals. In general, the bills propose solutions to three problems (in addition to raising the revenue to pay for the proposed solutions):

1. A lack of affordable health insurance coverage
2. Suboptimal quality in the delivery of healthcare services
3. High and rising healthcare costs