It's not your decision: Cost and timing

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Lawmakers predict the President will see a final health care bill just after the New Year.

Price tags hover around the $1 trillion mark as some lawmakers try to push this bill through.

Proponents said the bill is long overdue. Others said the reform is moving too quickly.

"The President wants the bill so badly that whatever is in the bill at this point is very likely to be signed," Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) said.

"We're trying to say slow it down, read the bill and don't push it so fast," Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) said.

Republicans against health care reform said the bill will lead to higher premiums, tax increases and Medicare cuts, paving the way for more government control.

"The rush is that they want to get it done before they go to the year of an election," Shimkus said. "The rush is politics, it's not policy. They are the big government party, and so this is another step in their agenda."

Though in favor of the health care bill, some Democrats said the President should focus on other things as well.

"We've got other priorities we need to be dealing with too, like jobs, like the cost of energy," Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) said.

The House bill comes with a price tag of $1.2 trillion. The Senate bill is close behind, with a bill of $849 billion dollars. Both are paid for, in part, by Medicare cuts and tax increases.

"Four or five hundred billion of that control would happen with Medicare costs, which means that senior citizens over 65 will probably find far less service," Lugar said. "There is the real problem of a shortage of doctors and nurses."

An estimate by the Heritage Foundation reported as many as 24 million people in the US could still lack coverage under the near trillion dollar plans.

"This fight is not over and that's why the democrats want to move this fast," Shimkus said.

Those in favor of the bill, like Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN), said folks who pay for insurance should not be forced to continue paying for coverage for the uninsured.