Sarah Palin's New Book Actually Longer Than Health Care Bill

One of the complaints about the health care reform bill is that it is 2000 pages long. Actually, it is 1990 pages long, but, none the less, complain they do. Reminds me of my college days with the students, and myself sometimes complaining that there was just too much reading to do.

Saying the bill is 2000 pages long gives people a false impression of the actual length of the bill. First off, the bill is double spaced. The margins on the left and right are two inch margins, about twice as wide as the normal default margin. Additionally, there is a page number in the center of the top of the page that requires a lot of wasted space as well. Also relevant is the use of a 14 pt font.

In an effort to allow the average American to be to compare apples to apples when it comes to the bill’s length, lets format the bill in the usual manner and see what happens.

First of all, by single spacing the bill, the number of pages immediately drops to around 995 pages. Next, put the page number in the header as usual. Next, cut the font down to 12 pt, the usual size. Change the side margins to 1” instead of 2” and standard formatting is applied. Using page 88 of the bill, chosen at random as a page with all text, no large print or lists and page 88 can fit into one standard formatted page three times. This allows us to reduce the pages to around 331. With tables of content, some special divisions of sections and what-nots, lets round up to 400 pages of standard formatted text (verses 1990 of “legislative format” text).

Four hundred pages of text to revamp the world’s largest economy’s health care system. Not bad. To put this into a perspective which truly allows the average American to compare apples to apples, Sarah Palin’s new book “Going Rogue” is 432 pages long. Granted, there aren't any pictures in the Health Care Bill.

From Dave Camp's Website: Washington, D.C., Oct 29 - U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-MI, Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member, today released the following quote in reaction to the Democrats finally revealing details of their health care bill, after nearly three months of closed door meetings:  "Americans' health care is too important and too complex to risk on one gigantic bill that has been written behind closed doors. After three months, all that has changed is that Democrats have added 1,000 pages to it – ..."

Perhaps a bill the length of Sarah Palin's book is too long for Dave Camp and his republican friends to read. Judging from the "best seller" status of Palin's book, most Americans disagree.

PDF of page 88 in Legislative Format
PDF of page 88 in Standard Format (page 88 fits three times)

References:

Dave Camp's Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dave-Camp/6775033524?ref=sgm

Going Rogue: An American Life (Hardcover)
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Rogue-American-Sarah-Palin/dp/0061939897

Affordable Health Care for America Act
http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

Dave Camp Official US Congressmen Website
http://camp.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=151998