The 3 Final Health Care Sticking Points

With the Senate and House health care bills expected to come together later this week, McClatchy Newspapers takes a look at the three biggest issues that have yet to be resolved:

• Abortion: Both bills have placed limits on abortion, but neither side is happy, with abortion rights supporters feeling women are being denied access to abortion while anti-abortion members remain concerned that the government will be subsidizing insurance that covers the procedure.

• Taxes: The Senate bill increases the Medicare tax by almost a full percentage point for those earning more than $200,000 (or $250,000 for couples), but many Democrates believe this is a burden on the middle class.
• The public option: The House bill includes a government-run plan, but the Senate bill—in an effort to gain more support from moderate Democrats—sticks with privately-run national plans, one of which must be nonprofit and supervised by a federal office. Though some senators, like Al Franken, still want the public option, more and more seem willing to compromise.

(More abortion stories.)