So, what's in the healthcare reform bill?

From our member Ruth Afifi comes this, a most succinct summary of what the healthcare reform bill is designed to do:

• 10 million of the most struggling Americans will be covered by Medicaid
  
  
• We will provide subsidies to help working class Americans afford their insurance
  
  
• Americans with preexisting conditions will immediately have access to insurance through a high risk pool
  
  
• Insurers will be required to spend at least 85% of premiums on care
  
  
• Reform will reduce the federal deficit by $1.3 trillion over the next twenty years
  
  
• There will be tax credits this year to help small businesses give their employees health insurance
  
  
• Health care reform will end denial of coverage because of preexisting conditions, first for children and later for all adults
  
  
• We will prohibit lifetime caps on benefits
  
  
• Insurance companies will be unable to drop you from your coverage because you get sick

Medicare will see multiple improvements:

• We will immediately begin closing the Medicare donut hole
  
  
• We will immediately remove copays for preventative care
  
  
• We require Medicare Advantage plans to spend at least 85% of premiums on care
  
  
• We extended the solvency of Medicare by many years

The summary comes from a larger article on the Daily Kos website written by Rep. Louise Slaughter. For more details, read the full article at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/3/23/849607/-A-Transparent-Process-to-a-Great-Accomplishment