A MAKEOVER FOR HEALTH CARE: Congress promises to deliver a package by year-end. But there's still a lot to iron out

摘要

AMID HEATED PROTESTS, marathon negotiations and provocative advertising campaigns, U.S. lawmakers vow to change health care as we know it by Christmas. Here's the latest on what the new system might look like. Nearly all of us would be required to have health insurance, with limited exceptions - cases of extreme financial hardship, for example. Those who go without would have to pay a penalty: $750 a year under one proposal and 2.5% of adjusted gross income (about $1,000 for the median wage earner) under another.