So I've had my head buried in these bills for the past few days, and although both bills require households to purchase health insurance, the government largely subsidizes it for households making $88,000/year or less. This will not translate into complete coverage unless you are below the poverty level, but that alone is a wonderful thing considering that's the group that didn't have coverage to begin with, and everyone pays substantially less.
For instance, after government subsidies the amount I would pay would be about $6,000 annually (House and Senate totals vary but I happen to be about at the intersection; the poor pay more and the middle class pays less under the Senate bill). For comparison, my employer currently pays $17,000 annually for the group plan of which I am a part.
Additionally, both plans require employers of a certain size to pay for employees' insurance; the House bill requires it based on total payroll ($500,000) and the Senate by total number of employees (50). These are both very low numbers. The vast majority of people would not even see the payments the government was not subsidizing, and while in some cases it may come out of their paychecks, this would be rare; most employers with group plans either charge their employees directly for shitty coverage or pay way more than either plan would mandate.
The biggest thing, though, is pre-existing conditions. Insurance companies may not adjust your premiums based on pre-existing conditions; I have not read the bill in all its fine print in its entirety at this point, granted, but I am ready to declare anything else a bald-faced lie. The only pre-existing factors that can change your premiums are age, geography, and size of household.
but zomg public option