It's been a busy day on the Hill, with the House of Representatives releasing its combined health-care reform bill with an emotional press conference led by Rep. John Dingell (above), the longest-serving member of the House whose efforts on reform -- including his yearly introduction of a Medicare-for-All bill -- were lauded by President Obama during his speech on the subject before Congress.House Democrats also released this brochure [PDF] in an attempt to make the issues understandable to most Americans. It includes some fun new language -- the public option is now "the Consumer's Choice" -- and tries to communicate simply what's going to happen if the bill becomes law. Think it will convince your grandmother and your uncle?The best news, though, is that the bill seems to come in at cost, in large part due to the presence of the public option, and cuts the deficit by some $30 billion over 10 years. That's not a bad start. Now we just have floor votes, and a conference committee, and then more floor votes, and, well, you get the idea -- get ready in particular for fights over the excise tax. But health-care reform has never come this far before. -- Tim Fernholz
