Dems advance health-insurance legislation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats at both ends of the Capitol accelerated their drive to enact health-care legislation Tuesday, outlining proposals to extend coverage to uninsured millions but omitting most details on plans for raising more than $1 trillion needed to cover costs.

The White House said President Barack Obama told a delegation of House Democrats he will soon outline as much as $300 billion in additional savings from Medicare and Medicaid to help pay for the bill.

A first-ever tax on employer-provided health benefits also figures prominently among options under consideration in Congress, but Obama campaigned against that last year, and its inclusion in the bill would require him to reverse course.

Given the uncertainty as well as the political sensitivity over raising taxes or cutting Medicare, Senate Republicans prodded Democrats to fill in the blanks before the scheduled beginning of committee work next week.

At their core, a 316-page partial draft bill released by Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a three-page outline circulated by senior House Democrats were largely identical.

Individuals would be able to buy insurance from new exchanges operated by the states or federal government. Private companies would be barred from denying coverage or charging higher premiums because of pre-existing conditions.

Both bills would require individuals to buy insurance if they could afford it, with waivers available in hardship cases. The Senate measure provides for an unspecified penalty for anyone refusing to obey the so-called mandate, and House Democrats are considering a similar approach.

Similarly, the House approach would require employers to purchase insurance for their workers or pay a penalty. Senate Democrats left that issue for a final decision later this week or next week, but it is expected to be included.

Additionally, both approaches include steps to emphasize preventive care.

To cut down on the ranks of the uninsured, the Senate bill stipulates that young people up to age 26 could remain on their parents’ insurance policies.

The emerging House plan would give individuals the option of buying insurance provided by the federal government.

Democrats on the Senate committee embraced a similar provision last week but omitted it from the draft released Tuesday in what Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said was a gesture to Republicans who oppose it.