Senate Finance Comm. Health Reform Vote Expected Tues.; CBO Scores Bill At $829B

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 09 Oct 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday released its cost analysis of the Senate Finance Committee's health reform bill, projecting that the legislation would cost $829 billion and reduce the budget deficit by $81 billion over a decade beginning next year, the New York Times reports (Pear/Herszenhorn, New York Times, 10/8). Following the release of the cost analysis, committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) announced Thursday morning that the panel would vote on the measure Tuesday, The Hill reports (Bolton, The Hill, 10/8).

According to CBO, the committee's bill would expand health coverage to 29 million more people by 2019 -- ensuring that as many 94% of nonelderly residents would have insurance by that year, up from 83% now (Young, The Hill, 10/8). The report noted that 25 million residents would remain uninsured, about one-third of whom would be undocumented immigrants.

The 27-page report stated, "The added revenues and cost savings [from the bill] are projected to grow more rapidly than the cost of the coverage expansion," adding, "Consequently, CBO expects that the proposal, if enacted, would reduce federal budget deficits (beyond 2019) relative to those projected under current law" by up to one-half of 1% of the national gross domestic product. According to the Washington Post, those spending reductions could total hundreds of billions of dollars (Montgomery/Murray, Washington Post, 10/8).

With the score, the panel's bill becomes the only one of five separate proposals from House and Senate committees that would achieve President Obama's goal to expand access to health coverage without increasing the deficit (New York Times, 10/6).

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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