Data: Health care bill section-by-section analysis

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The House is expected to vote this weekend on the health care bill passed by the Senate in December. We want to give you a section-by-section breakdown of the legislation. Tune in tonight at 10pm ET for more on the health care reform debate, and tell us your thoughts on the bill.

H.R. 4872, THE HEALTH CARE & EDUCATION AFFORDABILITY
RECONCILIATION ACT of 2010
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Title I – Coverage, Medicare, Medicaid and Revenues

Subtitle A – Coverage

Sec. 1001. Affordability. Improves the financing for premiums and cost sharing for
individuals with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level. Subsection (a)
improves tax credits to make premiums more affordable as a percent of income; and
subsection (b) improves support for cost sharing, focusing on those with incomes below
250% of the federal poverty level. Starting in 2019, constrains the growth in tax credits if
premiums are growing faster than the consumer price index, unless spending is more than
10% below current CBO projections.

Sec. 1002. Individual responsibility. Modifies the assessment that individuals who
choose to remain uninsured pay in three ways: (a) exempts the income below the filing
threshold, (b) lowers the flat payment from $495 to $325 in 2015 and from $750 to $695
in 2016 and (c) raises the percent of income that is an alternative payment amount from
0.5 to 1.0% in 2014, 1.0 to 2.0% in 2015, and 2.0 to 2.5% for 2016 and subsequent years
to make the assessment more progressive.

Sec. 1003. Employer responsibility. Improves the transition to the employer
responsibility policy for employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent workers (FTE)
by subtracting the first 30 full time employees from the payment calculation (e.g., a firm
with 51 workers that does not offer coverage will pay an amount equal to 51 minus 30, or
21 times the applicable per employee payment amount). The provision also changes the
applicable payment amount for firms with more than 50 FTEs that do not offer coverage
to $2,000 per full-time employee. It also eliminates the assessment for workers in a
waiting period, while maintaining the 90-day limit on the length of any waiting period
beginning in 2014.

Sec. 1004. Income definitions. Modifies the definition of income that is used for
purposes of subsidy eligibility and the individual responsibility requirement. The
modifications conform the income definition to information that is currently reported on
the Form 1040 and to the present law income tax return filing thresholds. The provision
also extends the exclusion from gross income for employer provided health coverage for
adult children up to age 26.
Sec. 1005. Implementation funding. Provides $1 billion to the Secretary of Health and
Human Services to finance the administrative costs of implementing health insurance reform.

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