Senate Health Insurance Reform Bill Insures Americans and Lowers Federal Deficit

Today, the non-partisan Congressional Budged Office (CBO) returned its analysis and cost estimate of the Senate's health insurance reform legislation. The CBO score shows that the Senate version would insure 31 million Americans and reduce the federal deficit by $127 billion over the next ten years.

To recap the process: Two Senate committees passed out their versions of a healthcare reform bill at the end of the summer. Working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, they have combined the two bills. A week and a half ago, the House passed its version of healthcare reform. Now, the Senate will take the House bill and replace the bill with the Senate's merged version to hopefully pass it out. The House and the Senate will then appoint a conference committee to iron out the differences, take the final version back to each chamber for a final vote, and send the bill to the President for his signature.

At each stage of the process, as a new version of the bill is drafted, the CBO analyzes it for its cost and impact. Since the CBO has returned their analysis of the Senate version of the bill, Majority Leader Reid can release the text to the public and to the Senators to read.

The next step in the process is introducing the bill on the Senate floor, and voting on a motion to proceed with debate. It will require 60 votes to proceed, and Sen. Reid's office has indicated that this vote could be coming up within the next few days.

Below is a story from the Washington Post with more details.

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Reid bill would cost $849, expand coverage to 31 million people, aide says

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 5:25 PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has assembled a compromise health package that would expand coverage to more than 31 million Americans at a cost of $849 billion over the next decade, a senior leadership aide said late Wednesday.

The cost of the package would be more than made up for by cuts in future Medicare spending and an array of new taxes, the aide said, reducing projected budget deficits by $127 billion no later than 2019 -- the biggest cost savings of any health care package so far assembled by congressional Democrats. The measure would also save the government money in the long term, the aide said, cutting projected deficits by as much as $650 billion between 2019 and 2029.

The aide did not release a formal cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, saying Reid was still awaiting a final report. But, he said, Reid has "received very good news from CBO confirming that we have produced a fiscally responsible bill that reduces the deficit, extends coverage to millions of Americans and meets the President's cost test." Reid was planning to unveil the package at a 5 p.m. meeting of Senate Democrats and formally file the legislation hours later. But the aide said hopes were fading that the Senate would be able to hold a crucial procedural vote Friday to usher the measure onto the Senate floor. That vote is now likely to occur no earlier than Saturday, the aide said.

Complicating the Senate's timetable was the absence of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who flew home because of a family medical emergency. A Baucus spokesman said it was unclear when Baucus, whose committee drafted one of two health care measures in the Senate, would be able to return to Washington. Because Republicans have threatened to filibuster the health package, Reid needs all 58 Democrats and two independents to be present and voting yes in order to prevail on the procedural motion that would formally begin debate.

The aide declined to provide additional details about the legislation Reid has crafted taking elements from the Finance measure and a rival package assembled by the Senate health committee, saying he would do so after Senate Democrats had been briefed. However, Reid has said the package would extend coverage to 94 percent of Americans by dramatically expanding Medicaid and establishing new marketplaces where people without access to affordable coverage through an employer could purchase comprehensive plans. One of the options offered through those insurance exchanges, Reid has said, would be a government-run insurance program demanded by liberals as an alternative to for-profit private firms. But Reid has also said that states would be permitted to "opt out" of the public plan, leaving only private insurance options in their exchanges.

The package is expected to be financed through more than $400 billion in Medicare cuts, as well as a new tax on high-cost insurance policies. Reid is also expected to propose a small increase in the Medicare payroll tax for workers who earn more than $250,000 a year.