Dems look to cut cost of health measure

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jolted by cost estimates as high as $1.6 trillion, Senate Democrats agreed Tuesday to scale back planned subsidies for the uninsured and sought concessions totaling hundreds of billions of dollars from private industry to defray the cost of sweeping health-care legislation.

At the same time, key Democrats disagreed openly among themselves over a proposed tax on health-insurance benefits to pay for expanding coverage to the uninsured.

And a compromise with Republicans over a role for government in the insurance marketplace remained elusive.

Despite numerous uncertainties, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., announced that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee would begin formal work today on legislation to provide “successful, affordable, quality health care.”

The meeting would mark the first public drafting session in either chamber on legislation to control the costs of health care while expanding coverage to the nearly 50 million who lack it — a goal that President Barack Obama has placed atop his domestic agenda.

Separately, the Senate Finance Committee is expected to begin work next week on a companion measure. Several officials said the Congressional Budget Office had issued a cost estimate of $1.6 trillion, with only about $560 billion paid for. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying the matter was confidential.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the panel, dismissed the estimates as outdated, and officials predicted the final bill would come in under $1 trillion.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said that with cost estimates coming in so high, “It is clear there have got to be changes made to make the whole package affordable.”

In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Baucus also disclosed he was “very close” to agreement with a handful of industry groups for them to accept hundreds of billions of dollars less in Medicare and Medicaid fees than they currently are projected to receive. He said the talks have involved insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical firms and the makers of medical devices, among others, but did not provide a specific figure for the savings overall.