Max Baucus head of the Senate committee that has to figure out how to pay for a national health care plan says he can get the 10-year cost below $1 trillion but the bill likely would tax workers on their insurance benefits.
Baucus didnt offer details Thursday.
Right now the government doesnt tax workers on the value of employer-provided health benefits. When asked whether the latest version of a health bill would put a cap on untaxed benefits Baucus said A version is in."
Baucus D-Mont. declined to discuss the details.
One option thats been discussed would tax health benefits above a certain threshold and mean higher taxes for 29 million people while 95.5 million would pay the same. No one would get a tax cut.
Many variations are being considered in order to keep the 10-year cost of the bill below $1 trillion something that can be achieved the Senate Finance Committee chairman said Thursday after getting some cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Baucus committee is expected to release a detailed package and perhaps bill language soon although Baucus was coy about when he and the panels top-ranking Republican Charles E. Grassley of Iowa would be prepared to convene a public committee meeting and vote on it.
Im working now with Sen. Grassley to dot the is and cross the ts" Baucus said. I expect to be ready sooner now that we have CBO numbers."
At least there are options that are available to us now to get us to where we need to be" said Kent Conrad D-N.D. chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a key Baucus lieutenant on the health care bill. And now the question is which of those options do you adopt to do that? And thats the process were going through now."
Co-op Health Plan
Also still in flux was the idea of a consumer-owned co-op" health plan instead of the government-run public plan" that many liberal Democrats have been calling for as an alternative to the private insurance market.
Conrad has been pushing the co-op idea and Baucus said the committee was considering an enhanced beefed up co-op" that would combine some ideas from Charles E. Schumer D-N.Y.
The proposals being discussed do not include a mandate on businesses to provide health care insurance said Olympia J. Snowe R-Maine. Snowe has been one of Baucus main Republican targets as a potential vote for the bill.
Snowe said there would instead be a free rider" rule on businesses with more than 50 employees designed to keep people with employer-provided insurance from leaving it and getting it through other programs.
Employers would be encouraged to provide health benefits by a requirement that they contribute to the cost of covering workers on Medicaid and of those who got coverage in the subsidized insurance exchange.
In return workers would be allowed to leave their employer-provided insurance only if the coverage available through their jobs was unaffordable.
Max Baucus head of the Senate committee that has to figure out how to pay for a national health care plan says he can get the 10-year cost below $1 trillion but the bill likely would tax workers on their insurance benefits.
Baucus didnt offer details Thursday.
Right now the government doesnt tax workers on the value of employer-provided health benefits. When asked whether the latest version of a health bill would put a cap on untaxed benefits Baucus said A version is in."
Baucus D-Mont. declined to discuss the details.
One option thats been discussed would tax health benefits above a certain threshold and mean higher taxes for 29 million people while 95.5 million would pay the same. No one would get a tax cut.
Many variations are being considered in order to keep the 10-year cost of the bill below $1 trillion something that can be achieved the Senate Finance Committee chairman said Thursday after getting some cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Baucus committee is expected to release a detailed package and perhaps bill language soon although Baucus was coy about when he and the panels top-ranking Republican Charles E. Grassley of Iowa would be prepared to convene a public committee meeting and vote on it.
Im working now with Sen. Grassley to dot the is and cross the ts" Baucus said. I expect to be ready sooner now that we have CBO numbers."
At least there are options that are available to us now to get us to where we need to be" said Kent Conrad D-N.D. chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a key Baucus lieutenant on the health care bill. And now the question is which of those options do you adopt to do that? And thats the process were going through now."
Co-op Health Plan
Also still in flux was the idea of a consumer-owned co-op" health plan instead of the government-run public plan" that many liberal Democrats have been calling for as an alternative to the private insurance market.
Conrad has been pushing the co-op idea and Baucus said the committee was considering an enhanced beefed up co-op" that would combine some ideas from Charles E. Schumer D-N.Y.
The proposals being discussed do not include a mandate on businesses to provide health care insurance said Olympia J. Snowe R-Maine. Snowe has been one of Baucus main Republican targets as a potential vote for the bill.
Snowe said there would instead be a free rider" rule on businesses with more than 50 employees designed to keep people with employer-provided insurance from leaving it and getting it through other programs.
Employers would be encouraged to provide health benefits by a requirement that they contribute to the cost of covering workers on Medicaid and of those who got coverage in the subsidized insurance exchange.
In return workers would be allowed to leave their employer-provided insurance only if the coverage available through their jobs was unaffordable.
