[af_vet_1981]

At this point in time I'm asking a similar, but different, question: If the House bill was driven by the political limitations of the Senate, then why didn't the Senate draft a bill first?

It's an Origination Clause issue.

The Constitution says revenue-raising bills must originate in the House, and since the bill that became Obamacare was written in the Senate, House Republicans say that’s a problem. Led by Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, 40 members of the House have signed onto a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that it violates the Origination Clause because it failed to originate in the correct house of Congress.

The Democrats got away with it though ...

[Alberta's Child]

That makes sense, but the Senate could at least get a bill out of committee that the House could use as the foundation for THEIR bill.