Sound Off: Share Your Thoughts

Just days after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill, a completely new battle is set to begin, said U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia.

"(The House bill) doesn't necessarily influence the Senate. The Senate is a very different body than the house. The Senate is a little more conservative than the House," Rockefeller said.

He said it's too early to tell what the Senate's final version of the bill might be.

"We'll see on that. I don't even know what our bill is going to be yet," he said.

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Rockefeller wasn't quick to celebrate the bill's passage in the House, but he said progress is being made in the reform process. The Senate must next pass a similar bill and then the two Chambers of Congress must work together to make a final draft.

He will be one of the people charged with blinding the two drafts together.

"I'll be one of the conferees that when the House and the Senate sit down to work out the differences. I will be there," he said.

He said there would be changes.

"For example, some of the things I wanted to see in the Senate bill -- which ultimately aren't in it -- are in the House bills," he said.

Rockefeller said his main goal remains doing what is best for West Virginia and the nation.

"To me, that means taking on the health insurance industry which keeps jacking up prices, even if they are making bigger and bigger profits," Rockefeller said.