On January 7, the Commonwealth Fund released a report analyzing the House and Senate’s health care reform legislation (HR 3962, HR 3590).  The report focuses on the number of newly insured residents and the program or plan under which they would be covered; the consequences of federal financing; estimated insurance costs for families; consequences for employers; and the extent to which changes to the insurance market can stimulate competition and lower cost. 

From the report:

In this report, we focus on: the number of people who would likely gain coverage under the two bills; under which program or plan they would be covered and the consequences for federal financing; the estimated insurance premium and out-of-pocket costs for families; the consequences of the bills for employers; and the degree to which the reorganization and regulation of insurance markets in the bills has the potential to stimulate price competition and lower costs. A companion Commonwealth Fund report analyzes the bills’ implications for health system reform.

Full report:  2009 Congressional Health Reform Bills: Implications for Coverage, Affordability, and Costs (PDF | 755 KB)

Commonwealth Fund. (2010). Health insurance provisions in the 2009 Congressional health reform bills: implications for coverage, affordability, and costs. Collins, S. R., Davis, K., Nicholson, J.L., Rustgi, S.D. and Nuzum, R.