Senate Democrats Cut a Deal; Reach 60 Votes

Early Saturday morning, Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) released a 383-page manager's amendment to the Senate health insurance reform proposal, indicating that he has secured the 60 votes needed to pass the legislation by Christmas. Senate Republicans immediately invoked the first of many delay tactics by requiring the Senate Clerk to read the entire bill aloud. Appeasing the last Democratic holdout, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mr. Reid modified language that does not require or forbid health insurance plans from covering abortion services, but does include an exemption that allows states to prohibit abortion coverage in the insurance markets or the exchanges, where most plans would be sold. Nebraska will also receive, under the amendment, a substantial increase in federal matching dollars that support the state's Medicaid program - the federal-state entitlement program that provides coverage to the poor.

This version of the Senate bill will cost, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, $871 billion and reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion over ten years, The Hill reports. Costing $22 billion more than its original version, the bill is predicted to cover an additional 31 million Americans.

The complete manager's amendment can be found on the Senate Democrats' website or by clicking here.

Coming only a day after a public opinion poll released by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicated that public support for reform is weakening, Mr. Reid has scheduled six votes to pass the legislation by Christmas. The first one, the next move in the process, is a 1:00am vote early Monday morning to end debate on the manager's amendment. All six procedural moves can be found at a post to the New York Times Prescriptions Blog or by clicking here.

A New York Times article discussing the changes made to key components of the legislation can be found by clicking here.

Senate Finance Committe Bill Approval Press Release with Provision Descriptions

In a press release issued by the Senate Finance Committee, a recap of each of the major provisions of the Baucus bill are outlined. Without having to dissect the actual bill and its language, one can get a sense of what each provision is actually proposing.

Find the press release at: http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb101309b.pdf

Health Care Reform - Senate Finance Approves Baucus Bill with One GOP Vote

In a 14-9 vote, with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) as the only Republican voting with the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, the landmark Baucus health care reform bill has cleared the panel and is now set to be merged with the Senate HELP committee health reform bill that was approved in July.

For the NYT story, click http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/health/policy/14health.html?hp

For the WSJ story, click http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125543637111982309.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

Health Care Reform - Five Key Numbers from CBO Score

A posting on the Wall Street Journal Health blog highlights five key numbers from the CBO scoring of the Senate Finance Committee health bill.

CBO estimates the cost to be $829 billion over 10 years while shaving off over $80 billion from the federal deficit over ten years as well.

Find the article at http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/10/07/five-key-numbers-in-cbos-score-of-the-senate-finance-bill/

Health Care Reform - CBO Scores Baucus/Senate Finance Bill

The cost analysis is in! Sen. Max Baucus' Finance Committee bill will cost $829 billion over ten years, up from an initial estimate of $774 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Finance Committee is now expected to move forward with voting on the bill, which will then get moved to the full Senate floor to be merged with the Senate HELP committee bill that was finalized in July.

The NYT story: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/health/policy/08health.html?_r=1&hp

The WSJ reports: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125494356104171425.html

WSJ's Health Blog's take on the five important numbers in the CBO score: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/10/07/five-key-numbers-in-cbos-score-of-the-senate-finance-bill/