UPDATE 1-FACTBOX-Winners, losers in U.S. House health bill

(Adds details on other sectors)

Oct 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday unveiled its final proposal to overhaul the nation's $2.5 trillion health care system. The legislation combines three previous committee bills but could still face changes before lawmakers vote on it.

Following are some of the health industry winners and losers based on the House bill. LOSERS...

HEALTH INSURERS

Already braced for competition from a government-run insurance plan, health insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N), Cigna Corp (CI.N) and others would take a further hit under the latest version of the House bill.

The measure takes direct aim on profit margins. It would force insurers to immediately start giving customer rebates if less than 85 percent of an enrollee's premiums were spent on actual care.

The public plan itself could also undercut insurers by paying doctors, hospitals and others rates as low as those by the Medicare plan for the elderly and disabled. Rate hikes by private insurers would also be scrutinized.

The bill also would eliminate the exemption health insurers had from antitrust laws, explicitly barring them from price fixing, bid-rigging or dividing up markets.

And while individuals would have to buy a plan or pay a fee as high as 2.5 percent of their adjusted income -- a move backed by insurers -- more smaller businesses would be exempt from the requirement to offer coverage.

Government reimbursement for private Medicare Advantage health plans would also see cuts.

Lawmakers did not include a tax on more extensive, so-called "Cadillac" health care plans or impose any other fees on the industry, as one Senate version did.

DRUGMAKERS

Drugmakers would take a larger hit under the House bill than with another Senate version, which included an agreement with the industry to provide $80 billion worth of savings over 10 years.

The House version would require drug companies to pay rebates to the government for drugs used by elderly and disabled Medicare patients who also are on Medicaid, the health program for the poor. It also would require the health secretary to negotiate drug prices under Medicare.

Drugmakers, which include Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) (GSK.N), Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) and others, have opposed both ideas.

The House bill would gradually eliminate the Medicare "doughnut hole," when prescription drug costs are not covered, by 2019. The drug industry had agreed to provide a 50 percent discount for drugs in the doughnut hole over the next decade.

LABS, HOSPICE & MORE

Laboratory testing, hospice care and home health care sectors would see Medicare reimbursements reduced based on the nation's productivity rate, something the laboratory industry's group estimates would be about 1.1 to 1.4 percent a year.

Lab companies such as Quest Diagnostics Inc (DGX.N) and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH.N) would see about $7 billion less over 10 years under the house bill, American Clinical Laboratory Association President Alan Mertz said. A $10 billion cut over 10 years is expected in the final Senate bill, he added.

Many other sectors, including inpatient rehabilitation facilities, ambulatory surgical care and others, would also see their reimbursement tied to U.S. productivity rates.

HOSPITALS

The bill would allow the U.S. health secretary to reduce payments to hospitals for patients who are readmitted following treatment.

Hospitals are also concerned a public plan could offer low reimbursement and that a $2 billion-a-year tax on devices would be passed on to them and admitted patients, the American Hospital Association said.

Long-term care hospitals and psychiatric hospitals would also see their reimbursement affected by productivity rates.

IMAGING MACHINE MAKERS

The House bill would cut Medicare payments for imaging tests such as MRIs and CT scans by an expected $4.3 billion over 10 years. The cut is steeper than the $3 billion over a decade in the most recent Senate bill. Makers of imaging equipment include General Electric Co (GE.N), Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) and Philips Electronics NV (PHG.AS). WINNERS ...

DEVICEMAKERS

Lobbyists representing medical devicemakers such as Boston Scientific Corp (BSX.N)>, Medtronic Inc (MDT.N) and Stryker Corp (SYK.N) successfully whittled down an expected $4 billion-a-year fee to $2 billion-a-year. The industry had wanted the fee removed altogether.

BIOLOGIC DRUGMAKERS

Brand-name makers of biotechnology drugs would see their medicines protected from cheaper copycats for at least 12 years. The period is a win for the brand-name companies, such as Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) and Roche Holding AG's (ROG.VX) Genentech unit, and a defeat for generic drugmakers that want a shorter period.

(For full coverage of U.S. healthcare reform, click on [nN20512341]) (Reporting by Susan Heavey, Lisa Richwine and Diane Bartz, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Bernard Orr)