Illinois Congressman John Shimkus is looking at healthcare legislation created by Democrats, but it's taking a while. "I'm goin through the bill, I started reading on Friday and I'm at about page 800, and its over 19-hundred pages." The Congressman says a lot of the song remains the same. "Basically it's got the public option and comparable effects," he says.

The legislation includes an option for states to "opt out" of the federal program, but the Congressman say the notion is a joke. "Who's going to do that and why would they do that?" he says. "They've already accepted the revenue, national taxation provisions and cuts to medicare and medicaid - there's no incentive to do that."

Republicans have now fielded their own version of healthcare reform, a 230 page document, focusing more on lowering costs than expanding coverage. Unlike the Democrats' legislation it has no requirement for people to buy insurance and no prohibitions against insurance companies denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

The Republican bill does cap non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, increases incentives for people to use health savings accounts and encourages creation of insurance pools for high risk individuals.