Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010

March 25, 2010 | H.R. 4872

The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 makes substantial improvements to the Senate-passed health reform bill, H.R. 3590. It closes the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole" and improves the affordability provisions for low- and moderate-income families. It increases federal support to help states expand their Medicaid programs to cover the most needy and makes fairer the penalty on employers who fail to offer coverage to their workers. It also eliminates 85 percent of the excise tax on premiums and instead makes the Medicare payroll tax fairer to working families by applying it to unearned income. The Senate took up the bill under reconciliation rules, which make the bill filibuster-proof and require only a simple majority to pass the bill.