Health bill changes to meet concerns of Dems

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee was revising his sweeping health-care bill Monday to address serious concerns from fellow Democrats and a key Republican about insurance costs, part of his ongoing struggle to deliver on President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

The changes came a day ahead of a committee session beginning today to amend and vote on the bill, which Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., hopes his panel will approve by the end of the week.

The 10-year, $856 billion package would extend coverage to about 29 million Americans who lack it now and institute insurance market reforms, such as prohibiting higher premiums for women or the denial of coverage to sick people. It would make almost everyone buy insurance or pay a fee, give subsidies to the poor to help them buy coverage and create new online exchanges where small businesses and people without government or employer-provided insurance could shop for plans and compare prices.

The bill’s release last week gave a boost to Obama’s health-care agenda after a summer of angry town hall meetings, though plenty of political and policy hurdles remain before Congress could send a bill to Obama.

In the days ahead, Baucus faces the difficult task of keeping his 13 committee Democrats on board without moving so far to the left that he alienates Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the only one of the panel’s 10 Republicans seen as likely to vote for the bill.

Snowe’s support could become even more critical presuming health overhaul legislation makes it to the Senate floor, as Democrats look for the 60 votes needed to advance the bill.

Snowe and a number of Finance Committee Democrats have raised concerns about whether subsidies in Baucus’ bill are generous enough to make insurance truly affordable for low-income people. There are also concerns about a new tax on high-value insurance plans, which some fear would hit middle-class workers even though Baucus is directing it at so-called “Cadillac” insurance plans.

Senators have offered a raft of amendments on both those issues and Baucus is incorporating some of the approaches in revised legislation he’ll unveil at Tuesday’s committee meeting. Details weren’t final, but one possibility was to lower the maximum amount of income people could pay in premiums before becoming eligible for subsidies. It’s now 13 percent.

Another was to adjust the new insurance excise tax — now set to hit plans valued at $21,000 for a family and $8,000 for an individual — so that it’s limited to even more expensive plans over time.

Baucus was set to meet with his committee’s Democrats on Monday evening to discuss and finalize the changes.

Aides said the changes could add to the cost of the $856 billion bill, but since the bill would raise about $50 billion more than it spends over 10 years, there is some wiggle room.

Baucus’ legislation is the most conservative, and cheapest, of five health-care bills in Congress. The four other bills have already passed committees in the House and Senate, but Baucus’ is the most closely watched because he tried for a bipartisan deal, though without succeeding. In the other committees, majority Democrats passed legislation without GOP support that reflected mostly liberal priorities.

Also, the Finance Committee has a moderate makeup that resembles the Senate as a whole, so legislation that passes Finance could find favor on the Senate floor.

Affordability emerged as perhaps the biggest concern for Snowe and committee Democrats after the bill was released last week, but it’s hardly the only one. Liberals like Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., want the bill to include a new public insurance plan to compete with the private market.