Health Care Update

Good news on the legislative and executive fronts on health care:

The three committees that have jurisdiction over health care in the House of Representatives have unveiled their bill to the full chamber. Details can be found here, with the major news being that it will be paid for with a surcharge on millionaires. Slate's Timothy Noah is calling it "real reform."

On the Senate side, the HELP committee also passed its version of the bill, but the Senate Finance Committee has "fallen behind schedule."

Over at the White House, advisers to President Obama are suggesting that they will rely only on Democratic votes if necessary to get this done, no doubt knowing the political consequences of failure that President Clinton saw in 1994. Meanwhile, President Obama has been pressing lawmakers to get bills finished by the August recess (with hopes for final passage by October 15th). Who knows if they will, but these are positive signs at least.