The House Energy and Commerce Committee finally finished its work on the healthcare overhaul Wednesday, cobbling a series of amendments together for the Rules Committee to add to the broader bill in the coming weeks.

The committee voted to report a motion from former Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., to recommend that Rules include the additions. Seven amendments -- sponsored by members on both sides of the aisle -- formed the basis of the motion. The changes will require an expert on children and adolescents to sit on the Health Benefits Advisory Committee; create a special enrollment period for chronic care special needs plans; require the HHS secretary to attract 10 percent of all eligible providers to act as bundling test sites in a public program; and require the public plan to reimburse the Veterans Administration for the costs of treating non-service-related injuries, among other changes.

The committee accepted a bipartisan amendment aimed at increasing transparency in the new system. Sponsored by Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton and Reps. Gene Green, D-Texas, and Michael Burgess, R-Texas, the agreement will allow patients to request information on cost sharing and require that information be available over the Internet.

The committee debated a package of Republican amendments that would have expanded health savings accounts, required citizenship verification for Medicaid beneficiaries, and prohibited comparative effectiveness research from being used to deny or ration care, among other changes. "This is the last opportunity to require verification of your citizenship for health care," said Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee ranking member Nathan Deal, R-Ga. The amendment was withdrawn.

Republicans used opening statements to argue that vitriol from constituents during the August recess was grounds to reopen debate on the bill. "H.R. 3200 is a dinosaur that has been shot down by a gigantic meteor known as public outrage," said Deal.

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