# Link to the preliminary Healthcare reform bill?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-the-preliminary-healthcare-reform-bill/503858>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 22, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-the-preliminary-healthcare-reform-bill/503858 "2009-07-22T14:38:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-the-preliminary-healthcare-reform-bill/503858/1 "2009-07-22T14:38:03Z")

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Has anything been posted on a government site yet? I’d like to see what it looks like at this point, if anything is actually out there. Anyone?

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**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-the-preliminary-healthcare-reform-bill/503858/2 "2009-07-22T15:28:18Z")

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[You can find it here](http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/aahca.pdf) (warning: 1,018 page pdf).

[commentary]Good luck reading that, let alone making sense of it. Think your Congressman is going to take a week to read it him/herself?[/commentary]

The House committee that introduced the bill also released a [section-by-section summary](http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/sbys3200.pdf) (35 page PDF) and [a 4-page summary](http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/hr3200_summary.pdf).

The bill is HR3200 and the title is “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act.”

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**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-the-preliminary-healthcare-reform-bill/503858/3 "2009-07-22T15:55:21Z")

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Thank you so much!!!

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**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-the-preliminary-healthcare-reform-bill/503858/4 "2009-07-22T16:10:58Z")

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[QUOTE=The summary of the bill]  
Assistance for small employers. Recognizing the special needs of small businesses, the smallest businesses (payroll that does not exceed $250,000) are exempt from the employer responsibility requirement. The payroll penalty would then phase in starting at 2% for firms with annual payrolls over $250,000 rising to the full 8 percent penalty for firms with annual payrolls above $400,000.  
[/QUOTE]

Am I right in assuming that the penalty is 2-8% of the total payroll, not per-employee?