Finding the Truth About Healthcare Reform – Revisited

In August, I wrote Finding the Truth About Healthcare Reform. It was my way of helping people find the text of the proposed bills on their own instead of just relying on what the talking heads were telling them. Since then, that has become one of the most popular posts I’ve written. People are still finding that article when searching about health care. I feel by not updating my blog on this subject I have been performing a disservice to those who found my site.

So to help out, today I give you a direct link to the Library of Congress’s web site for H.R. 3590: Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009…. Wait what?! What does this have to do with health care? My research led me to http://www.govtrack.us. Their site for H.R. 3590 explains:

This is the Senate’s health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Senate is co-opting this bill as a vehicle for passage of their reform and will change the text of this unrelated bill in whole in the coming weeks. They do this because the Constitution requires all revenue bills to start in the House, and their health reform plan involves revenue. So they have chosen to work off of a bill that started in the House, even if that bill is unrelated.

So if I understand this correctly, the Senate is using the Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act as a bucket. They are going to empty the bucket of everything related to service members home ownership and taxes and fill it with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. While filling this bucket, they also have to deal with considering, as of today, 213 amendments to the 2,074 page Act. Does your head hurt yet? Mine does.

UPDATE (12/22/09): As of today, there are 501 amendments. My head really hurts now.

Let’s get down to business and make this post a useful resource: