House Narrowly Passes Health Care Reform Legislation - November 9, 2009

Late Saturday evening, the House of Representatives passed its health reform legislation by a narrow 220-215 margin.

With passage of their health reform bill behind them, the House will recess this week in observance of Veteran's Day. Full attention now turns to the upper chamber. Senate leaders are waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to score their version of health reform legislation before bringing the bill to the floor. It remains unclear if health reform backers have the 60 votes necessary to begin debate on the measure. The timeline for Senate action is uncertain, but an extensive debate is expected once the bill moves to the floor. The differences between the House and Senate bills will have to be reconciled, and an identical bill will have to pass both chambers before being sent to the President. While congressional leaders and the White House have said they would like to pass a final bill this year, this seems increasingly unlikely.

NAPH has updated a side-by-side comparison of health reform legislation. The middle column represents the bill as passed by the House over the weekend.