The biggest dispute has been how to fund the legislation; in other words where will the money come from with the question whether to include a government run insurance plan and how much to spend on subsidies that would help the lower and middle income Americans so that they can afford insurance.

The most controversial issue though remains that of abortion with the bill allowing insurance plans in newly created exchanges in the market place to offer abortion coverage; however the senate bill wants to extend it further so that insurers who get government subsidies cannot provide abortion coverage at all.

If you don't have health insurance you would be required to have coverage and if you do not have one you would pay a penalty which would be 2.5% of your income. Of course there would be exceptions due to financial hardships or religious reasons.

So in 2014 the penalty for not having coverage would be $95 or 0.25 of your income whichever is higher and the penalty would rise in 2016 to $750, or 2% of income up to the cost of the cheapest health plan.

If you are a senior and are over 65 years old, the medicare prescription drug benefit would be improved greatly with both bills allowing most seniors to get half-priced-brand name drugs when they hit the gap. If you are one of the beneficiaries of Advantage, the private plan part of medicare, the government would cut back on funding and so you could lose extra benefits that many of the private plans offer such as hearing aids, gym memberships and free eyeglasses.

For those that want health coverage but cannot afford it, the legislation would expand medicaid, which is a state-federal program for poor people and those with disabilities. Millions of people would be included even those without children that wouldn't normally be eligible. If your income is 150% of the federal poverty level or $16,245 you could be eligible for Medicaid.

If you make too much for Medicaid you could get help buying private insurance and if you make too much to qualify for subsidies you could still get some financial relief. The new bills would require your insurer to pick up your out-of-pocket costs - amounts of the bill that you would pay once they exceeded a certain amount.

If you work for a company, you will not need to buy insurance as new responsibilities will be placed on the employer to begin offering insurance but the companies would receive financial incentives.

Do these health reforms increase my taxes? - These bills will most likely hit the wealthy but in different ways. There would be a 5.4% income tax surtax on individuals who make more than $500,000 a year and couples that earn more than $1 million. Medicare payroll tax would be increased from 1.45% to 2.35% for people who make more than $200,000 a year and families that make more than $250,000 per year.

How will the government raise money for this legislation? - There would be a 40% tax on the portion of employer-sponsored health coverage that is more than $8500 a year for individuals and $23,000 for families. The threshold for deducting medical expenses on your federal tax forms 1040 would be increased from 7.5% to 10%.

Will it be possible for you to buy insurance even if you have health problems? If you have medical issues the new health bill would make it easier for you to get coverage; A pool would be created for high risk people or people that have been rejected for coverage due to preexisting conditions. Insurers will not be able to set lifetime coverage limits.

Younger, healthier people might pay more and insurers would not be permitted to charge sick people more; older people could be charged more than younger people.

Small business owners would be exempt from having to provide coverage to their workers tax credits would be provided to small firms. A company with less than 50 employees or payroll of less than $500,000 will be exempt from having to offer insurance.



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