WASHINGTON -- For consumers, the most confusing part of the
health-care bill may be when -- and if -- they will see its
benefits.  Under the Senate bill scheduled for a vote Thursday,
a slate of provisions designed to be immediately visible to
consumers would kick in six months after the bill takes effect.
But those changes wouldn't affect people who stay in employer
health plans. For people who buy insurance on their own, the
provisions would only have an effect when they buy a new policy.
And one of the health bill's most widely debated features -- a
mandate that most Americans obtain health insurance or pay a
fine -- won't take effect until 2014.  Starting next year,
insurance companies would no longer be able to place lifetime
caps on coverage, and they would begin to lose their ability to
set annual limits on benefits. Insurers would have to pay the
entire cost of preventive services such as mammograms,
colonoscopies, flu vaccines and assistance to people trying to
quit smoking.  But these changes apply