Timeline of Health Reform Legislative Process

July 31, 2009: The House Energy and Commerce Committee approves its plan, making it the final plan in the House committee structure.

October 13, 2009: The Senate Finance Committee passes its health reform bill.

October 29, 2009: The three House bills are combined into one bill.

November 7. 2009: House bill heads to the floor for a one-day debate. Two amendments are considered, one is adopted. At the end of the day, lawmakers voted 220 to 215 in favor of the bill.

What's left in the process:

• The Senate will debate their version of the bill, which is likely to take several weeks. Filibusters – a tactic for delaying the legislative process by making long speeches, which may have little to do with the point at hand – are extremely likely with such a hot-button issue.
• The Senate will vote on the bill; it needs a simple majority to pass.
• If the Senate version passes, both the House and Senate bills will be sent to a Conference Committee, which will look at the two bills and draft a compromise bill for both houses to consider.
• The new bill will be sent to the House and Senate for another round of debate, and each house will need to pass the new bill with a simple majority.
• If the bill passes both the House and the Senate as it was proposed by the Conference Committee, it will be sent to the president for his approval or veto.
• Once passed, the legislation will take a few years to go into effect, despite reports by the Kaiser Family Foundation that many Americans believe the legislation would take effect within a year.

Heather Trese is the associate editor of the Agent's Sales Journal. She can be reached at [email protected] or 800-933-9449 ext. 225.