The new US administration led by President Barack Obama is aiming to help those who have lost their jobs in the economic downturn by assisting them to keep their health insurance in place even though they are no longer in employment.
The bill intends to pour many billions of dollars into a stimulus package to assist unemployed people in holding on to their healthcare benefits.
But, critics say that these new measures are ill thought out and a quick-fix response to the problem.
The amount of yet to be agreed financial support, that will enable people to keep their health insurance benefits is said to be substantial for each individual.
This will be a major expansion of COBRA, a system already in place that will pay health insurance premiums for as long as 18 months after unemployment.
Under the new plan, these benefits will be greatly expanded and may even allow people many years of coverage until they reach retirement age and Medicare will replace COBRA.
Some who welcomed the scheme also pointed out that it does absolutely nothing for the many millions of Americans who have no insurance coverage of any kind.
