House Passes Landmark Health-Care Bill by 5 Vote Margin

The Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962, passed in the House of Representative by a vote of 220-215 yesterday. The bill seeks to expand health care coverage to the approximately 40 million Americans who are currently uninsured by lowering the cost of health care and making the system more efficient. To that end, it includes a new government-run insurance plan (a.k.a. a public option) to compete with the private companies, a requirement that all Americans have health insurance, a ban on denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition and, to pay for it all, a surtax on individuals with incomes above $500,000. Details on H.R. 3962 on Open Congress.

Just a sample of major media coverage:

• Wall Street Journal: House Passes Health-Care Bill in Historic Vote
• New York Times: Sweeping Health Care Plan Passes House
• Washington Post: House Democrats pass health-care bill

More:

The Washington Post's roll call for the vote includes information on campaign contributions from the health care industry accepted by each Member of Congress and the percent in each district's population without health insurance.

The Wall Street Journal's Parsing the House Health Bill offers a brief synopsis of what the bill would mean for various groups.

[JH]