Where on line can I read the Senate and House pending bills on
Medicare drug payment? Are there readable summaries that outline all
the points, not just the major ones in the newspaper, about these
bills?

Hi honcho5,

Yes, you can read the full bills and summaries of them online courtesy
of the US Government Printing Office.

I can't point you directly to the bill you want (there are many and
I'm not sure exactly which one you're after), but I can walk you
through the process of getting to them so you can peruse them
yourself. .

Go here:

CONGRESSIONAL BILLS
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong009.html

Select which Congress you want (the 108th congress is currently
sitting)

Type in your search term. I used:  MEDICARE AND DRUG AND PAYMENT

Click SUBMIT

I got 40 returns for my search. The first one was:

S. 1 (rs) To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make
improvements in the medicare program, to provide prescription drug
coverage under the medicare program, and for other purposes. [Reported
in Senate]

You'll see that each Bill title is followed by links to TEXT, SUMMARY,
and PDF document. Here are direct links to the text and summary of the
one I cited above.

SUMMARY 
http://frwebgate6.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=589592296013+0+1+0&WAISaction=retrieve


TEXT  (long, loads slowly)
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/useftp.cgi?IPaddress=162.140.64.21&filename=s1rs.txt&directory=/diskb/wais/data/108_cong_bills



This page will explain the different codes and abbreviations used in
the Bills—

CONGRESSIONAL BILLS – HELPFUL HINTS
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/help/hints/bills.html


So that should be everything you need to read the actual content and
summaries of the Bills you are interested in.

If anything I've said isn't clear, or any of the links don't work, let
me know and I'll be happy to clarify.

Thanks so much for your question!

-K~

Search term: 

Bills Congress