Q+A-U.S. healthcare overhaul proposals and goals

July 13 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has made overhaul of the nearly $2 trillion U.S. healthcare system the major domestic policy goal of his first year in office, and hopes to have the deal completed by the Democratic-controlled Congress and on his desk by October.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF U.S. HEALTHCARE OVERHAUL?

* The major goals are to curb rapidly rising costs and expand health insurance coverage to the 46 million uninsured Americans. Many analysts consider another 25 million to be underinsured. U.S. healthcare now consumes $2.2 trillion a year, nearly $7,471 per person. This equals 16 percent of GDP with a projected rise to 25 percent of GDP by 2025.

HOW DO AMERICANS PAY FOR HEALTHCARE NOW?

* An estimated 163 million Americans under age 65 have employer-paid insurance, for which most share the cost of premiums and a portion of the cost of drugs and medical care with their employer.

* Another nearly 18 million Americans buy insurance in the individual market, which can be very expensive.

* Medicare, the government-run healthcare program for those over age 65 or disabled, covered 44 million in 2007.

* Medicaid, the joint federal-state healthcare system, covered almost 61 million poor Americans, of which nearly half were children. It also paid for most long-term healthcare for the elderly and disabled.

WHAT CHANGES IS CONGRESS CONSIDERING?

* All individuals would be required to obtain insurance under all of the options being considered in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

* All the bills are expected to bar insurance companies from refusing to cover people or charging them more because of health history or gender.

* The bills are expected to call for sweeping insurance market reforms including limits on insurance premiums.

* The House bill would set up a new government-run insurance program to compete with private insurance companies. The Senate Finance Committee, chiefly to address Republican concerns, is instead looking at creating nonprofit medical cooperatives to compete with insurers.

* The House and Senate Finance Committee bills would both create state insurance exchanges to act as clearinghouses for individuals and small businesses to buy insurance.

* The Senate health committee bill includes a sliding scale of subsidies for the purchase of insurance for people with incomes up to 500 percent of the poverty level. The Senate Finance Committee bill would scale that back to 300 percent of the poverty level, about $66,150 for a family of four.

* The House Ways and Means Committee bill includes a graduated surtax on individuals making more than $350,000, $500,000 and $1 million.