This Commonwealth Fund report analyzes the health reform bill passed by the House and the reform provisions under consideration in the Senate that would affect providers' financial incentives, the organization and delivery of health care services, investment in prevention, and the capacity to achieve the best health care and health outcomes for all.

From the report:

The House bill would offer a public health plan in the insurance exchange. The HHS secretary would be charged with negotiating provider payment rates and authorized to use an array of proven value-based purchasing payment methods. Providers participating in Medicare would be assumed to participate in the public health insurance plan unless they opt out. CBO estimates that the public plan will have lower administrative costs than private plans but also will attract sicker individuals, with the net effect that its premium will be slightly higher than those for private plans. The CBO estimates that nearly all of the 6 million people who enroll in the public plan (of the nearly 30 million covered through the exchange) would be people who are currently uninsured and who would be eligible for premium subsidies.

Full report: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2009/Nov/Starting-on-the-Path-to-a-High-Performance-Health-System.aspx

Commonwealth Fund. (2009). Starting on the path to a high performance health system: analysis of health system reform provisions of reform bills in the House of Representatives and Senate. Davis, K., Guterman, S., Collins, S.R., Stremikis, K., Rustgi, S. and Nuzum, R.