Get a health insurance quote – While Congress debates the specifics of a health care bill, Americans wonder what reform will mean for them–and when they can expect it. The good news is that many changes would be felt immediately or within a few months of the bill’s signing.

If the health care bill becomes law, the following changes would quickly take effect:

• Lifetime limits on coverage would be eliminated six months after the bill is signed into law.
• Beginning in 2010, small businesses (usually 25 workers or fewer) would be offered tax breaks if they help their employees purchase health insurance.
• The Senate bill proposes a $5 billion temporary program providing coverage to uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions that would go into effect 90 days after the bill is signed; the House bill would create a similar temporary program aimed at covering Americans who struggle to secure coverage.
• Young people would be allowed to stay on their parents’ policies until the age of 26 in the Senate bill and 27 in the House bill. Age requirements are currently determined by state.
• Both plans would shrink the Medicare prescription-drug coverage gap, or “doughnut hole,” by $500.
• Additional funding would be provided to community health care centers, allowing them to expand.

Looking ahead, after 2014 the Senate bill would make it illegal for insurers to reject anyone based on a pre-existing condition.