House Democrats unveil healthcare legislation including public option

"Most of you all thought the public option was dead," said Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and a Pelosi ally. "Rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated."

The House bill will include sweeping new regulation of the insurance industry, prohibiting companies from denying coverage to sick people. And it will provide subsidies to millions of Americans to help them buy insurance in a regulated exchange, where commercial insurers would offer plans alongside the government option.

It also mandates that Americans buy insurance, and requires large employers to provide their workers with health benefits.

All Americans making less than 150% of the federal poverty level -- $16,245 for an individual and $33,075 for a family of four -- would be eligible for Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for the poor.

[...] The bill will be funded largely by a combination of cuts in Medicare -- many of them designed to make the program more efficient -- and a 5.4% surtax on individual taxpayers making more than $500,000 and couples making more than $1 million.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times