Among die most prominent in an array of health cue reform measures now pending in Congress is S. 1227, the "HealthAmerica: Affordable Health Care for All Americans Act." The bill's prominence derives mainly from its sponsorship by George Mitchell, the Maine Democrat who is Senate Majority Leader. The 349-page bill also is the most recent and comprehensive version of what is called the "play or pay" approach to health care refoxm. In this, the federal govern- ment would require employers either to"play" by covering their employees (and employee dependents) with at least a specified minimum level of health insurance or to "paypt a payroll tax to fund an expanded Medicaid-type program to cover their workers and dependents. The only employer exempt from this system would be the federal governmem Buried in the bill is a provision that congressmen and their staffs, like other federal workers and refirees, would continue to enjoy a wide choice of privat