With all new levels of high stakes and drama, this month the healthcare debate has turned into a type of March Madness for indoor kids. Ahead of this weekend’s likely vote on the healthcare bill in the House, speculators in and out of Washington have broken out the TI-83 graphing calculators to determine what possible combination of Representatives would give Speaker Nancy Pelosi the necessary 216 votes to jam the bill through.

After Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s (D-OH) change of heart on Wednesday, Rep. John Boccieri (D-OH) and Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY) have been the latest two to switch to the “Yes” camp, saying they are satisfied that the new, reconciled bill released this week is closer to the original House version than the Senate’s was.

It’s a promising sign that the bill might actually pass this time around, made even likelier by the Congressional Budget Office’s rosy evaluation. The agency found Thursday that
the bill would save $138 billion over 10 years and extend coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, instead of 31 million as previously thought.

But as always, what concerns House members most is not what the bill can do for their country, but what the bill can do for their district. That’s why yesterday Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) compiled a list of the benefits of the healthcare reform bill for every congressional district in the nation.

I looked at the reports on the Los Angeles area and compiled the data from the 29th through 37th districts (which includes Waxman and the 30th). If it passes, the healthcare bill will:

  • Improve coverage for 2,881,000 residents with health insurance by prohibiting annual and lifetime limits, coverage denials for pre-existing conditions and rescissions for individuals who become ill while insured. That could be a crucial win for a city like L.A., where asthma and diabetes are as common as In-n-Outs and idling SUV’s.
  • Give tax credits to 1,283,000 families to help them afford coverage. For a family of four making $50,000, the average tax credit will be about $5,800.
  • Grant Medicare to 667,000 seniors, including giving them access to prescription drugs.
  • Grant coverage to 1,022,000 uninsured residents, making it so that their first choice for primary care isn’t an emergency room.
  • Protect 9,900 families from going into bankruptcy because of medical bills they aren’t able to pay.
  • Allow 518,000 people under the age of 26 to stay on their families’ insurance plans.

Before the bill can clear the House and head to the Senate for a filibuster-free vote, there are still 29 votes left to get. That includes Representatives like John Tanner (D-TN), who’s received over $1.2 million dollars from the health industry for his campaign.

But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.