Senate Health Bill Comes In at $849 Billion
Roll Call Staff
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) health care reform proposal will cost $849 billion over 10 years but cut the deficit by about $127 billion, leadership aides announced Wednesday afternoon.
The Congressional Budget Office cost estimate, from which Reid draws his analysis, also concluded that the health care reform bill would help more than 94 percent of Americans get health insurance coverage and reduce the rolls of the uninsured by 31 million people.
The deficit reduction number was particularly surprising, given the Senate Finance bill, which was scored at $829 billion, would have saved only $81 billion over 10 years. The House bill was scored at a cost of more than $1 trillion.
Reid is expected to vet the bill at a special Democratic caucus at 5 p.m.
Baucus: We Must Reform Health Care Now
March 8, 12 a.m.
Ten years ago, Dan DeJong, a fourth-generation rancher from just outside Libby, Mont., was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Dan worked hard all his life, but when faced with massive bills to treat his cancer, Dan and his wife, Pat, had no choice but to sell the family’s land and apply for Medicaid and food stamps. Read Full Article
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