Law good. Reading bad? Un-interpreting health care reform

I scrolled down the News Feed in my Facebook homepage to search for the link titled:

Two thousand, four hundred and nine pages of health reform bill... in case you're perplexed by the media storm. Enjoy! :D

Why Brad, you just read my mind! (Thank you, by the way, for the link.) Downloading the bill, titled HR3590, was by no means an easy task. I was at work at the time, and I'm pretty sure I overloaded our already sporadic wi-fi network for a good fifteen minutes. Nonetheless, it had to be done. Research awaited!

I read through the cover page. Ok, easy enough. Then suddenly, the next few pages turned into a blur. I skimmed through twenty or so pages of what I can only describe as a massive table of contents. Eager to get to the bulk of the bill, the narrative-stylized text--as I had pictured, I scrolled down in horror as I noted that the bill was written to mimic the lovechild between a Shakespearean sonnet and the Bible.

Undeterred, I plowed through what I assumed was the first paragraph. Ok, one paragraph down. And then I realized I had to go fold my laundry.

I was never much for legal jargon. Scientific jargon, yes. Legal matters? Utterly hopeless.

For the last two years, I've been trying to keep up with all things health care reform, but the fact that they are often presented in context of opinion makes it difficult to allow myself to form my some of my own. Hence, I thought that taking the bill into my own hands for interpretation would ease my confusion. Who needs Congress or the media to tell me how to think? Ok, so I need a Cliff Notes version!

I consider myself sufficiently educated, yet I have difficulty processing massive amounts of legal jargon, especially 2409 pages of it. This problem then begs the following question--How do we enable the masses to access, read, and interpret the law as to empower them to form their own opinions of it? Only then could we confidently fight for what we truly believe in.

Upon Congress passing the health care reform bill just last Sunday, John Boehner (R-OH), the House Minority Leader, said the following:

We have failed to listen to America. This body moves forward against their will. Shame on us.

What exactly do the people want? And even if we knew what the people wanted, are those wants the same things that America demands? There are only a select few who have an understanding of the massive bill in its entirety. Some tend to swing in the direction of their affiliations with a particular political party or religious group. The rest are either confused or too complacent or too apathetic to care. We depend on the government, media, and our institutions to speak in our behalf. Their representation is valued, assuming that they are listening. That said, how do we know that they're listening if we're not talking?

Ever the idealist and still out of answers (despite my replenishing list of questions),

Shopgirl.