Number affected (2007) UNINSURED: 46 MILLION IF YOU'RE UNINSURED How you could benefit from reform: -- If you have a low income, you could have an easier time qualifying for Medicaid, a program funded by the state and federal governments. Proposals by three House committees and the Senate Health Committee, plus a set of options laid out by the Senate Finance Committee, include loosening eligibility standards. -- In addition, based on your income, you could receive federal aid to purchase private insurance and vouchers for preventive care. -- A common theme of major legislative proposals is that you could gain the option of buying insurance through exchanges, novel arrangements in which insurers would be prohibited from denying coverage for preexisting conditions or taking into account your medical risk when setting your premium. -- Insurers in the exchanges would offer a minimum set of benefits. As spelled out in the House 'Tri-Committee' proposal, for example, those would include an annual cap on out-of-pocket expenses and an end to co-payments and deductibles for preventive care. -- Older people could pay premiums closer to those paid by younger people, because age-based variations in rates could be restricted. -- You could gain the option of buying coverage from a government plan or nonprofit cooperative whose scale would enable it to pass along savings. How you could lose under reform: -- You could be required to buy insurance or pay a penalty. Any assistance the government offers may be too small to make coverage affordable. -- Young people and healthy people could end up paying relatively higher premiums, if age becomes a less significant factor and medical history ceases to be a factor in setting rates. As young people grow old and healthy people get sick, such sacrifices could even out. 