Baucus tweaks health bill

WASHINGTON - The Senate Finance Committee yesterday took up what its chairman called a "balanced, commonsense plan" for a health-care overhaul that includes modifications suggested by Republicans and Democrats.

But Republicans on the panel accused Democrats of ending bipartisan deliberations prematurely and continued to oppose key provisions.

Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) said he revised the package he introduced last week to make it more affordable for low- and middle-income people while keeping it from adding to the federal deficit.

Baucus said the new package "is estimated to cost less than $900 billion" over 10 years, about $50 billion higher than his earlier price tag.

The most significant of Baucus' changes would sweeten the subsidies for individuals and families with incomes up to four times the government's poverty level - $43,320 for individuals and $88,200 for a family of four.

To hold down costs for older consumers, he also cut the ability of insurance companies to charge more for coverage on the basis of age, from five times the base rate to four times.

Among other provisions, he said, the revised plan lowers out-of-pocket costs and trims penalties for those who don't obtain health insurance.

Under the modified plan, the maximum penalty for those who do not meet a mandate for buying health insurance would fall to $1,900 per family, from $3,800.

And to cut short Republican derision, Baucus exempted consumer items of $100 or less - including condoms, contact-lens solution, scented sanitary pads, and home pregnancy tests - from a proposed tax on medical devices that is to help pay for coverage for the uninsured.

Expensive medical devices, such as power wheelchairs, insulin pumps, and hearing aids, would still get hit, the Associated Press reported. These items, however, are paid for mostly through insurance, so the full cost does not hit the household budget.

"This is our opportunity to make history," Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman, told the panel as its session began. He said his plan "takes the best ideas from both sides" and was "designed to get the 60 votes it needs to pass" in the Senate.

He said he expected his bill to be melded with a Health Committee proposal and to be scheduled for floor debate as early as next week.

But Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the panel, charged that the White House and the Democratic leadership had rushed the bill, effectively ending the deliberations of the bipartisan "Gang of Six."

He added that "there are a lot of things I can support in this package," praising the bill's "fiscally responsible" approach of fully offsetting its costs. But he said it imposed new taxes, failed to prevent taxpayer funding of abortions, and left medical-malpractice reform unresolved.

Grassley also blasted the mandate to purchase insurance coverage, calling it "an intrusion into private life."

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R., Maine), like Grassley a member of the Gang of Six, praised elements of the bill, which eschews a government-run "public option" for health insurance in favor of nonprofit cooperatives in a new system of "exchanges."

She said, however, she was still worried about the affordability of insurance for middle-class families, and she called for a further expansion of proposed subsidies.

Democrats, too, had concerns.

Sen. John F. Kerry (D., Mass.) said the panel had not yet done enough make large employers "contribute their fare share" to health-insurance coverage.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) complained that the proposal did not adequately "hold insurance companies accountable" by forcing them to "compete for our business."

The panel, whose work is considered key to overhauling health care, is to weigh nearly 600 amendments.

The White House, meanwhile, stressed the urgency of reform, releasing a report that shows health-insurance premiums have risen far faster than wages and inflation in every state. The report from the National Economic Council shows that premiums have soared 90 to 150 percent over the last decade.

In remarks to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Vice President Biden said the increase was "astounding and makes the case for nationwide reform."

Republican lawmakers rebuked the Obama administration yesterday for telling health insurance companies to stop warning elderly customers they will lose benefits in health-care legislation. They called

it a gag order.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said companies "have a fundamental right to talk about legislation they favor or oppose."

The warning was issued after the administration and a key Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, deemed prominent insurer Humana Inc. was misrepresenting pending bills to frighten older Americans. Humana has discontinued its mailing.

- Associated Press

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