Health Insurance Reform - 2009 

THOMAS (Public Access)

• Search database for bills by keyword, sponsor, stage in legislative process
• Provides the text, a summary, every floor action, links to the Congressional Record, reports, and roll call votes
• H.R. 3200
  • America's Affordable Health Care Act sponsored by John Dingell
  • Includes text of legislation, legislative status, and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
  • Section 1233 covers consultation for end-of-life services
• Affordable Health Choices Act (Senate)
  • Not yet introduced or assigned number
  • Proposed text and Markup

Health Reform.Gov

• President Obama's web page supporting health care reform
• Includes his budget message on health reform and means for reducing health care costs
• The President's speeches on health care reform
• Detailed state factsheets documenting statistics on health care quality and access
• Opportunity for citizen input

Health Care/National Journal (Public Access)

• Comprehensive guide to the 2009 national health care debate
• Use pulldown menu for links to various draft bills, Congressional Budget Office reports, Executive Branch reports, and lobby group positions
• Additional reports available from the broader National Journal web site (UMich Only)

CQ Weekly Report (UMich Only)

• Analyzes current legislation, identifying the most important bills, summarizing their status, and providing roll call votes
• Especially good for providing behind-the-scenes information
• Sample articles
  • House and Senate Health Care Plans July 20, 2009
    • Brief comparison of two plans
  • Panels Advance Health Care Overhauls July 20, 2009

Congressional Research Service Reports

• These are short reports, usually under 20 pages, with a concise analysis and history of bills before Congress
• Health insurance is covered heavily in the 111th Congress but historical reports go back over 50 years
• Congressional Research Service Reports via LexisNexis Congressional Universe [UMich Only]
  • Full text of CRS reports, 1916 to present
  • Searchable by keyword and date
  • PDF format of complete text
• Open CRS [Public Access]
  • Search engine for major collections of CRS reports
  • Reports are VERY current
  • Some search results have gibberish titles but the full text is fine to read
  • Also provides an RSS feed at http://opencrs.cdt.org
• Health Insurance Reform and the 111th Congress (UMich Only)
  • Summarizes the bills in the 111th Congress but written in May 2009 so does not currently include H.R. 3200
  • Public Access Copy

Congressional Budget Office (Public Access)

• Agency analyzes costs of various Congressional bills
• A special section on Health Care Reform

General Accounting Office

• Lists of recently-released "Reports and Testimonies" beginning with August 1995
• GAO policy documents and decisions of the Comptroller General

Main Committees

• Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
• Senate Finance
• House Energy and Commerce
• House Ways and Means

Congressional Universe/LexisNexis Congressional (UMich Only)

• Indexes committee hearings, prints and reports since 1789
• Provides the full text of all published hearings, 1833-2003, and committee prints since 1830
• Provides access to the full text of selected published and not-yet-published hearings beginning 1988 and reports since 1989
• Most publications for the past six years are available in the Documents Center in paper copy under their SUDOCS (Y1, Y4 or Y10) numbers all publications are available in the Documents Center on microfiche
• Video on Congressional Universe (9 minutes, wmv)
  • Focuses on search techniques but pre-dates full text of hearings, committee prints, CRS Reports, and bound Congressional Record

Congressional Hearings via GPO/FDSYS (Public Access)

• Full text of selected Congressional hearings beginning with 1995, and committee prints since 1987
• Searchable by keywords in the full text, metadata, date, committee and subcommittee, nominee, SUDOCS class number
• Search results may be narrowed by data, committee, organization, committee member, or location
• Full text available in pdf
• Hearings also browsable by committee

See http://www.lib.umich.edu/ask/ for additional methods of contact

Many thanks to Amy Stilgenbauer, Documents Center intern, for contributing to this guide and to Jim Mogensen of the Interfaith Council on Peace and Justice for suggesting it.