by Robert Lowes - Medscape Medical News
October 13, 2009 - The Senate Finance Committee today passed a massive healthcare reform bill - mostly along partisan lines - that would eventually reduce the ranks fo the uninsured by more than half. All 13 Democratic members of the committee, along with 1 lone Republican, Sen. Olympia Snow (ME), voted for the bill. The remaining 9 Republican committee members cast nays.
"This is a balance, commonsense plan for reforming healthcare," said Finanace Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (MT), a Democrat, adding, "It guarantees that no American goes broke because he gets sick."
The bill takes the revolutionary step of requiring most Americans to obtain health coverage, but it also offers subsidies to help the cash-strapped pay for it. Likewise, the legislation would require all but small employers to either cover thei workers or pay a penalty into a fund for subsidizing their coverage. The bill also creates state-based markets for health insurance called exchanges, expands coverage under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and curbs health-plan practices deemed abusive, such as denying coverage based on preexisting conditions.
The bill would reduce the number of uninsured Americans in 2019 by 29 million, leaving 25 million nonelderly adults - a third of them illegal immigrants - without coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office (OBC). The bill makes no provisino for a government-sponsored health plan - the controversial "public option" - advocated by some liberal Democrats, but instead authorizes member-owned "co-op" health plans as an alternative to private insurance.
While the bill would cost $829 billion, the CBO projected that it would reduce the federal deficit by $81 billion over 10 years through spending cuts and increased revenue, such as "play or pay" contributions from employers. Republicans, through, are decrying what they view as hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes and fees.
