Details on health care bills in House, Senate

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders presented a new health overhaul bill on Thursday that melds legislation passed by three committees over the summer and makes a series of changes to accommodate lawmakers' concerns.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is finalizing legislation merging the work of two committees and making other changes.

Here are details on the two bills. The Senate bill has not yet been made public, so some specifics are unknown.

The House Democratic bill (Affordable Health Care for America Act):

WHO'S COVERED: About 96 percent of legal residents under age 65 — compared with 83 percent now. About one-third of the remaining 18 million non-elderly people left uninsured would be illegal immigrants.

COST: The Congressional Budget Office says the bill's cost of expanding insurance coverage over 10 years is $1.055 trillion. The net cost is $894 billion, factoring in penalties by individuals and employers who don't comply with new requirements. That's under President Barack Obama's $900 billion goal. However those figures leave out a variety of new costs in the bill including providing more prescription drug coverage for seniors under Medicare, so there's no official estimate on the total cost of the legislation.

HOW IT'S PAID FOR: $460 billion over the next decade from new income taxes on single people making more than $500,000 a year and couples making $1 million. (The original House bill taxed individuals making $280,000 a year and couples making more than $350,000, but the threshold was increased in response to lawmakers' concerns that the taxes would hit too many people and small businesses).

There's also more than $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid; a new $20 billion fee on medical device makers; $13 billion from limiting contributions to flexible spending accounts; sizable penalties paid by individuals and employers who don't obtain coverage; and a mix of other corporate taxes and fees.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS: Individuals must have insurance, enforced through a tax penalty of 2.5 percent of income. People can apply for hardship waivers if coverage is unaffordable.