This will be pretty much a drive-by diary, and what I personally have to offer ain't much; but the link is extremely rewarding, if you really want to understand the financial impact of health care reform. Actuaries are perhaps the most important professionals in the debate. They understand how health care gets paid for (honestly, most of us don't, despite what we think we understand).
The link is to a set of pdfs from the Society of Actuaries. Most (though not all) are free from political taint. They address some of the issues that tend to get glossed over when we discuss reform: What happens to the savings that employers will get? Can we do this without reforming Medicare? Are there existing models we should consider? A few are from health professionals, and those are particularly fascinating.
It's all rewarding. I encourage you to dig in.
A few bits of glossary might be useful. Stop-loss means an employer covers claims until they reach a predetermined level, then actual insurance kicks in. Self-funded means exactly that; the insurance company pays the claims with the employer's money -- technically speaking, there's no actual insurance. A majority of Americans are covered by one of those two methods, where any profits from underwriting go to the employer; the insurance company is getting processing fees.
Warning: Some of these papers will anger you. A few, IMHO, are just plain wrong or at least wrong-headed. They are still worth reading.