Senate Finance Committee Completes Health Reform Markup

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 05 Oct 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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The Senate Finance Committee completed markup of its draft reform bill around 2 a.m. on Friday, after seven days of debate over hundreds of amendments, the Washington Post reports (Murray/Montgomery, Washington Post, 10/2). The Finance Committee will not hold a final vote on the draft bill until next week, to give the Congressional Budget Office time to score the new amendments and make sure that the legislation does not add to the federal deficit (Espo, AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/2).

CongressDaily reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has begun to merge the Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee's health reform bill with the Finance Committee's bill, even though the latter has yet to pass. According to CongressDaily, the Finance Committee's bill is expected to pass early next week without any more significant changes. The merging of the two bills is also being overseen by Obama administration officials, Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), who oversaw the HELP markup. New HELP Chair Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) also will be involved in the process (Friedman, CongressDaily, 10/2).

Amendment Would Establish State-Run Public Plans

The panel voted 12-11 to pass an amendment by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that would enable states to form their own public plans. The vote largely was along party lines, with Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) the only Democrat to vote against the amendment.

Under the amendment, U.S. residents with incomes between 133% and 200% of the federal poverty level who do not have employer-sponsored health benefits could enroll in a state-based public plan. Under the proposal, the federal tax credits that would otherwise go to those individuals would instead be given to the states to finance the plan.

States could choose whether to set up their own public plan, which  would be required to maintain coverage as good as Medicaid. In addition, the state plans would negotiate payment rates directly with providers, rather than base them on Medicare reimbursement rates, which other public plan proposals would have done (Young [1], The Hill, 10/1).

Bipartisan Amendment for More Affordable Insurance

The Finance Committee also passed, 22-1, an amendment introduced by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) that is designed to make health insurance more affordable for U.S. residents with moderate incomes, The Hill reports (Young [2], The Hill, 10/1).

The original draft bill would require that U.S. residents obtain health coverage, but it exempts those who cannot find an insurance plan that costs less than 10% of their income. The amendment would increase the amount of people who qualify for the exemption by lowering the threshold to 8% of an individual's income (Young [1], The Hill, 10/1). The amendment would establish a maximum penalty of $200 for a family that does not obtain coverage, beginning in 2014. The penalty would rise to $800 in 2017. The amendment also would eliminate the potential for criminal penalties for U.S. residents who do not obtain coverage (Pear/Calmes, New York Times, 10/1).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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