Health care issues: Why so many health care bills?

A look at key issues in the health care debate:

THE ISSUE: Why are there so many different health care proposals being discussed on Capitol Hill, and what exactly does Obama support?

THE POLITICS: Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., unveiled a House bill that combined the work of three separate committees. The legislation would provide coverage to 96 percent of Americans and establish a government-run insurance option with doctors, hospitals and other providers allowed to negotiate rates with the Health and Human Services Department for services provided. In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is pushing a compromise bill based on the work of Senate Finance and Health committees that would create a government-run option but allow states to opt out. The Senate bill also relies on nonprofit co-ops to get the uninsured covered. There had been five bills in the Senate and House, one from each of the congressional committees with jurisdiction over health care. Of the two bills in the Senate, the one passed out of the Finance Committee had received considerable attention because it won a lone Republican vote - that of Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, a key moderate who Democrats hope will get them to the 60 votes needed for passage in the full Senate. President Barack Obama has not formally endorsed any of the bills. Instead, he has outlined several core objectives for legislation. Those include a guarantee of insurance, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions; a guarantee of choice of doctors and health plans; the assurance of affordable, quality health care for all Americans, and curbing health care costs.

WHAT IT MEANS: Obama has been careful not to specifically endorse any of the bills. He called the House legislation "another critical milestone in the effort to reform our health care system." He praised the Senate Finance Committee bill for offering security to those who have insurance and affordable options for those who don't, as well as barring denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions.

- By Jennifer C. Kerr