So let's say health care reform passes. And you're one of the millions of Americans needing insurance. Think you'll be covered immediately? Well, think again. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to break it all down for us.

So, Sanjay, if the bill were to pass, when would we actually see any changes?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, some of those changes are going to come about pretty quickly. But, you know, it's important to sort of keep a couple of things in mind.

First, we don't know what the final shape of this thing ultimately is going to be. And two is that not everything is going to happen at once. So it's not going to be a magic wand being waved and all of a sudden the system completely changing.

So let's take a look at a couple of the important things that might make a difference earlier on. First of all, I don't know if you have -- if you can see those or not, but this idea that there won't be any annual caps anymore.

So, say you've had some sort of illness. Sometimes the insurance company will say there's a yearly cap or a lifetime cap. Those are going to disappear, so insurance companies will continue to pay the medical expenses for people who have that.

Pre-existing conditions. Something we've been talking about for more than a year. If you've had some sort of pre-existing condition, it can be very difficult to get health insurance.

They're going to set up these high risk insurance pools around the country so that people who have some sort of pre-existing illness can get insurance through those pools and those are going to be subsidized.

Young adults covered to age 26. That's exactly what it means. If you have -- after college but before your first job, you can still get health care insurance. Drug discounts for seniors as well. This idea of the doughnut hole.

Fred, we've talked a lot about this. Think of a doughnut. It's got a hole in the middle. The way that these insurance works, these drugs is that they pay as you eat through the first part of the doughnut, but there's no coverage in the middle of that doughnut.

And you don't start getting -- as far as coverage goes until you get to the other part of the doughnut. Shrinking that doughnut hole so that you have a shorter period of time where you're not covered. That's sort of the goal there.

So those are some of the things, if this passes, within 2010 we'll probably see.

WHITFIELD: And if you're uninsured and you desperately want to be covered will you be covered immediately if this bill were to pass?

GUPTA: It depends who you are and exactly why you're not covered. So some people who have simply not bought health care insurance because they can't afford it, there may be some benefits here.

People who have not bought health insurance because it's been too expensive, because they've had some sort of pre-existing condition, they may get some benefit. But take a look at sort of what 2014 would look like. That's an important year as far as when this gets more widely implemented.

First of all there would be mandates. People are going to have to buy health care insurance or buy fines. The way that they're going to do this is through a health insurance exchange. Think about those as supermarkets. So private plans that you can select from. If you can't afford it, you get tax credits to help defray some of those costs.

Again, no discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Those tax credits to help pay for it. And finally this idea that, you know, expand Medicaid, part of this bill as well. So for childless adults living near poverty, they would qualify for Medicaid expansion and possibly get some health savings as well.

But, again, that's four years down the line, Fred, for -- you know a vast majority of Americans who are waiting for this to happen.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So in some cases immediately, almost immediately, in other cases you've got to wait at least four years. All this predicated on whether it passes at all.

GUPTA: That's right. Lots of layers. And we don't know how it's all going to look.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Thanks so much.

医疗改革法案已经通过了。你是数百万需要医疗保险的民众之一。那么，你立即就能参保，享受赔付吗？让我们再想一下。我们的首席医疗记者Sanjay Gupta为我们分析一下。

Sanjay，改革法案已经通过，那么，我们什么时候能够真正看到一些变革呢？

DR. SANJAY GUPTA，CNN首席医疗记者：你知道，其中一些变革会很快生效。但是，你知道，你必须记住几个问题，这是非常重要的。

首先，我们不知道医改最终框架是什么样的。第二点，并不是所有事情都是一次完成的。这并不是魔法棒，整个体系不可能一瞬间突然改变。

那么，先让我们来看一下初期的一些变化。首先，我不知道你能否意识到，但是，这一点却是是真的，不再有年度限制。

打个比方，如果你患了某种疾病。有时保险公司会说，存在年度限制或终生限制。这些都会消失，保险公司会继续帮拥有医疗保险的人支付医疗费用。

先前存在的疾病。关于这一点我们已经探讨了一年多的时间。如果你在之前已经患病，要参加医疗保险非常困难。

现在，全国各地将设立高风险基金，所以，原本患病的人可以通过这些基金获得保险，获得补助。

年轻的成年人保至26岁。如果你已经大学毕业，但是还没有找到第一份工作，你仍然可以获得医疗保险。老年人还可以获得药品折扣。这就是“面圈洞”的概念。

Fred，关于这一点我们已经谈了很多，想像一下一个面圈，中间有一个洞。医疗保险的运作方式就是这样的。他们赔付的药品就是你吃到的面圈的第一部分，但是没有赔付的就是面圈中间的洞。

你不能获得赔付，直到到达面圈的另一部分。将这个面圈洞缩小，这样的话，你不能获得赔付的时间就会缩短。这就是医改的其中一个目的。

以上就是其中的一些变化。如果最终能够通过，2010年之内我们可能就会看到这种变化。

WHITFIELD：如果法案最终通过，你没有参保，而你急切地想要参保，你们，你是否能够立即被纳入参保范围呢？

GUPTA：这取决与你属于哪个人群，以及你未参保的原因。所以，对于那些因为无力支付而未参保的人来说，他们将是最先获益的。

因为保险费用太高，因为他们此前已经患病等等原因而未参保的人，他们也能从中获益，但是可能要到2014年之前才能实现。2014年是非常重要的一年，医疗改革将得到更广泛的实施。

首先是强制性。人们必须购买医疗保险，否则就要被罚款。可以通过购买医疗保险单的方式进行。可以将这种方式比作超市，一些私人计划可以供你选择。如果难以支付，你的所得税可以享受一些优惠，来补偿这笔费用。

此外，不会存在关于先前的疾病方面的歧视。税款抵免可以帮助他们支付。最终，你知道，扩展医疗补助也是该计划的一部分。所以，对于那些居住在贫困地区无子女的成年人来说，他们将纳入医疗补助扩展范围中，或许还能得到一些健康补助。

但是，我们还要强调一下，这需要四年的时间。你知道，许多美国人正在等着这些措施生效。

WHITFIELD：某些措施将立即生效，某些措施很快生效，而有一些却要等待至少四年的时间。而所有这些都取决于最终是否能够通过。

GUPTA：确实。这是许多层面的问题。我们都不知道最终一切会是怎样的。

WHITFIELD：好的。非常感谢Dr. Sanjay Gupta。